LITTLE ROCK — The prosecutor for Arkansas' 2nd Judicial District has found no indications of wrongdoing by police in West Memphis who shot and killed a father and son who were sought for the shooting deaths of two police officers.
Prosecutor Mike Walden says Jerry and Joseph Kane would have faced capital murder charges had they not been killed in a shootout with police in the parking lot of a West Memphis Wal-Mart on May 20.
The episode started when Joseph Kane, 16, of Forest, Ohio, shot drug-interdiction officers Brandon Paudert, 39, and Thomas “Bill” Evans, 38, after he and his father, 45-year-old Jerry Kane, were pulled over on Interstate 40, police have said.
Walden on Wednesday also released new information related to the shootings, including Arkansas State Police case summaries, crime scene investigation documents, statements from witnesses and two videos. One video comes from the dashcam of Officer Bill Evans' SUV while the other was retrieved from surveillance cameras at the Wal-Mart parking lot where the two suspects were fatally shot by authorities.
The security camera footage is "pretty dramatic," as it captures the confrontation in the parking lot and shows an Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Wildlife Officer ramming the suspect vehicle in an attempt to stop it, Walden said. The dashcam video is brief.
"It doesn't show the actual acts," Walden said. "It shows the younger of the two suspects getting out of vehicle with an AK47 and then walk out of the frame."
The dashcam video shows Evans making what appears to be standard traffic stop, with Jerry Kane exiting Interstate 40 and stopping along an exit ramp. The video had no audio but shows Jerry Kane stepping out of his minivan at Evans’ request.
About 10 minutes later, after Paudert arrived in a second vehicle, Joseph stepped out of the passenger side of the van firing an AK-47. Just before the shooting, Paudert appeared startled as Jerry Kane moved suddenly out of the frame, as though to run away.
For about 40 seconds, everyone was out of the camera’s view — then Joseph Kane climbed back into the van’s passenger side and his father walks quickly around the front of the vehicle and into the driver’s seat.
After climbing back in the van, Joseph Kane continued to fire shots until his father drove away.
Evans and Paudert, the West Memphis police chief’s son, were left dead along the exit ramp.
The father and son were killed later that day in a shootout with law enforcement officers at the West Memphis Wal-Mart.
Separate video from the parking lot shows the Kanes being confronted while apparently trying to drive out of the lot, then their van being rammed from the side as they backed up. Police said previously that a state wildlife officer rammed the van to prevent the Kanes’ escape.
Walden said the decision to release the materials now is in response to repeated media queries. The items to be released do not represent the complete or final case summary, he said.
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"From my standpoint, it's still an ongoing investigation," Walden said.
Information for this article was contributed by Chuck Bartels of The Associated Press.