PHOENIX (CN) — Defending police officers who shot and killed Shawn Gagne inside his apartment in 2023, the city of Mesa says the officers had no way of knowing whether the man was no longer a threat.
“This is an egregious case,” city attorney Christina Retts said in a Phoenix courtroom Tuesday. “He repeatedly threatened to kill officers.”
After an hourslong standoff, Gagne’s family says in its excessive force and wrongful death lawsuit that Gagne placed his rifle on the kitchen counter and attempted to come outside to surrender while at least eight officers fired multiple volleys of bullets through glass windows and doors, each round being at least 30 seconds apart…