Saline County Prosecuting Attorney Ken Casady said Thursday that a Benton police officer will not be charged in the fatal shooting of an armed teenage boy in October.
Officer Kyle Ellison fatally shot Keagan Schweikle, 17, after police responded to a disturbance Oct. 17 at Schweikle's mother's home in the 1200 block of River Oaks Drive. Schweikle was reportedly suicidal and armed with a .40-caliber pistol, police said.
Police said Schweikle fled into a wooded area when officers arrived. He then pointed a gun at officers, and Ellison shot him, according to police.
Casady, in an interview, said the prosecuting attorney's office had reviewed a police investigation of the shooting and found that Ellison acted in self-defense. He said interviews with witnesses and police officers, as well as physical evidence and the 911 call that led police to respond, showed that the shooting was justified.
"There is no evidence from which I can conclude that criminal charges are warranted against officer Ellison," Casady wrote in a letter to Benton Police Chief Kirk Lane.
Ellison, a six-year veteran of the department, returned to duty in November, according to police.
Schweikle is the second person whom Ellison has killed while on duty. He and Benton police officer Mike Treasitti fatally shot Clifford Jones, 29, in 2013 after a drug-related car chase in which Jones fired a gun at pursuing officers, police reported.
Schweikle's father, Dominic Schweikle, said after his son's death that the killing was "unnecessary." He suggested that officers were too quick to confront his son, and that patience and communication might have resolved the situation peacefully.
"He was no danger to anyone but himself," Dominic Schweikle said.
Los Angeles-based attorney David Gammill, who is representing the Schweikle family, said his law firm was examining the shooting and plans to meet with Casady and Benton police early next year. Gammill said the family hadn't decided whether to pursue litigation.
"The family, as well as we, still have a lot of questions," Gammill said. "Not just the shooting, but the events that led up to the shooting."
Gammill said Keagan Schweikle was "a teenager going through a tough time." He said Schweikle's death reflected a troublesome pattern in America, where research shows that many of those shot or killed by police are mentally ill or emotionally disturbed.
For years, police research agencies and civil-rights groups have called for officers to receive more training in handling such encounters.
"There's a lack of education," Gammill said. "There's a lack of knowing how to deal with those situations, and a lot of times, they get escalated and wind up in either shootings or death, unfortunately."
Lane said police had reviewed the shooting thoroughly and found no violations of department policy. He said Ellison had "a matter of seconds" to decide whether to shoot Schweikle. Lane added that even though Ellison was cleared of any wrongdoing, the outcome was still troubling.
"Officers have to make quick decisions," he said. "That's what we train them to do. And we always train them to use deadly force as a last resort."
According to Lane, an autopsy found that Schweikle was "under the influence of a number of drugs" when police encountered him. Lane said past drug use had caused problems at home for Schweikle and led the boy's parents to seek help for him through Saline County juvenile court.
On Oct. 17, Schweikle was found passed out at school with a bottle of cough syrup, according to police.
"He was facing discipline," Lane said. "His parents were going to take him to a hospital, but they stopped at home."
Schweikle's mother called 911 soon afterward and said her son was armed and suicidal.
"What was going through his mind, we'll never know," Lane said. "But I imagine he was seeing doors close all around him and he got desperate."
Lane said Benton police will continue to review the killing, for training purposes. He said the department handles about two calls per day involving mentally ill or emotionally disturbed people.
Casady said Schweikle's death was unfortunate.
"I don't know if the officer or the Police Department or anyone else in the community would've wished for this to turn out the way it did," he said.
Schweikle is one of three people shot to death by Benton police in recent months.
On Oct. 7, officer Cory Mize shot Thomas Jeffery Burns, 49, after responding to a domestic-disturbance call involving Burns and Burns' ex-girlfriend. Burns pointed a pellet gun at Mize, and Mize shot him, according to reports. Burns died from his injuries three days later.
Prosecutors determined that Mize acted in self-defense. He was not charged.
On Dec. 2, Benton police Sgt. Ronald Davidson fatally shot Joseph Edward Turner, 58, as Turner, who was armed, tried to rob a First Simmons Bank, according to police. Davidson was off duty at the time.
Police said Davidson was placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation, in accordance with department policy.
That investigation is ongoing.
Metro on 12/23/2016