Fayetteville Police: Officers had no option but to fire

** This Fayetteville Police Department press release has not been edited by Ozarks Unbound except for italics and bold added.  Cleaned up some grammer errors that crept in when we transcribed this press release. Our mistake, not the department’s. **

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 1, 2009

======================================

RE: FAYETTEVILLE POLICE COMPLETE INTERNAL INVESTIGATION

Fayetteville Police Chief Greg Tabor today released information regarding the internal investigation into the death of Jill Ulmer.

Per police department policy, an internal investigation is completed after a deadly force incident resulting in serious physical injury or death. The internal investigation revealed Corporal Chris Scherrey, a 6-1/2 year veteran of the department, and Office Ken Willyard, a 4 year veteran of the department, responded to 2182 N. Leverett Avenue, #15, after the police department received a 911 emergency call from Ms. Jill Ulmer.

Ms. Ulmer reported she had obtained an order of protection against a former boyfriend, Ricky Ray Anderson, whom she had just seen on the parking lot walking toward her apartment. Ms. Ulmer reported Anderson appeared to have been carrying something. The officer reported that, while approaching the apartment on foot, they both saw and heard the door loudly slam shut followed by screams from within. Each officer attempted to forcibly enter the apartment by way of the front door; however, the door would not give way to their efforts. One officer then kicked through the front window of the apartment.

Each officer reported observing a man matching the description Ms. Ulmer had provided on the floor behind the living room couch. The officer believed the suspect was punching Ms. Ulmer as they heard her scream and saw her arms and legs flailing above the edge of the couch as she attempted to defend herself.

One officer attempted to deploy a conducted energy weapon (Taser) through the window in an attempt to stop the assault on Ms. Ulmer; however, the deployment was not successful. It was at this time the officers realized the suspect had a knife in his hand and he was repeatedly stabbing, rather than striking, Ms. Ulmer. Both officers then drew their service weapons and shot at the man in an attempt to stop the assault.

The officer stated the suspect could be seen “bobbing up and down” as he continued to repeatedly stab Ms. Ulmer. The officers attempted to shoot over the couch at the suspect who was in constant motion. The officer continued to shoot until they observed the suspect roll away from his original position; a total of nine shots were fired. The officers believed the suspect might have been struck. Making full entry into the apartment by way of the window, the officer discovered the suspect sitting on the floor near Ms. Ulmer; a knife was lying nearby as well.

The State Medical Examiner’s Office released a preliminary report indicating Ms. Ulmer’s cause of death was the 25-30 stab wounds found on her her body and a gunshot to the head. A forensic examination of the officers’ service weapons will have to be completed in an attempt to determine which weapon fired the bullet striking Ms. Ulmer. It was further revealed one knife wound had severed a major artery in Ms. Ulmer’s abdomen that would have caused her death minutes.

The medical examiner also indicated the bullet striking Ms. Ulmer had “tumbled in” before causing the wound. This is would seem to confirm the bullet struck something prior to hitting Ms. Ulmer.

The department’s policy on use of deadly force states an office may use deadly force to protect him or others if he has a reasonable belief of immediate threat of death or serious physical injury. The internal investigation revealed the officers did not attempt to use deadly force until such time they realized Anderson was armed with a knife and was repeatedly stabbing Ms. Ulmer. While it was unfortunate a bullet from the officers’ service weapons struck Ms. Ulmer, it was determined they had no other options in their attempts to stop Mr. Anderson’s assault. Had they not used deadly force, Mr. Anderson would most certainly have continued his murderous assault of Ms. Ulmer.

The internal investigation has exonerated Corporal Chris Scherrey and Officer Ken Willyard in their use of deadly force in this incident. The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is continuing its independent investigation of this incident, the reports of which will be forwarded to Washington County Circuit Prosecutor John Threet for review.

SIMILAR POSTS

• Bullet shot by Fayetteville police struck stabbing victim, contributed to death at 6:22 PM on June 29, 2009
• Internal investigation finds Fayetteville police officer’s shooting was justified | News Brief at 5:43 PM on December 7, 2009
• UPDATED (12.4.09) Fayetteville police officer kills man suspected of Arvest bank robbery | Press Release at 11:10 PM on December 2, 2009
• When police kill: Fayetteville officers killed four people while Little Rock police killed six in the last five years at 10:42 PM on January 12, 2010
• Fayetteville police arrest Charles T. Nation on attempted murder charge | Press Release at 4:03 PM on November 18, 2009