Two Louisville Metro Police officers are on administrative leave after they shot and killed a man Sunday night.
The officers were responding to a report of an alleged robbery at an industrial park in Okolona, according to Maj. Frank Hardison, commander of the police department's special investigations unit. Hardison and Police Chief Steve Conrad addressed reporters about the shooting Monday night.
Hardison said officers approached a building where the suspect was believed to be and fired their weapons when "the suspect came out of the door armed with handgun."
The officers are both assigned to the department's 7th Division, according to Conrad. Officer John Dillon is a two-year veteran of the force. Officer Nick Ulery joined the police force in February 2016.
The officers have received various commendations for participating in community events and responding to accidents, among others, according to a review of their personnel files.
Dillon received a reprimand for being at fault in a vehicle collison, according to his file.
Dillon and Ulery are white. The man they shot — identified by police as 24-year-old Corey Antonio Boykin Jr. — was black, according to Conrad.
The department's Public Integrity Unit is investigating the shooting.
Body Cam Video Released
Police officials held a press conference Monday evening to brief reporters on the shooting. During the briefing, they played officer-worn body camera footage that shows the shooting.
The camera footage appears to show several officers surrounding a door at the industrial park. The officers can be heard identifying themselves as police.
Seconds after the man opens the door the officers fire multiple shots, according to the video. The man appears to fall instantly.
He was pronounced dead at University Hospital shortly after the shooting, Hardison said.
Hardison said the officers found a person alive inside the building who "had been bound and duct-taped" with "what appeared to be pistol-whip injuries."
The Policy And Investigation
The police department’s standard operating procedure allows officers to use deadly force “in defense of oneself or another when the officer reasonably believes, based on the facts and circumstances, that the person against whom the force is used poses an immediate threat of death or serious injury to the officer or to another person.”
The policy also presents officers with an escalating scale of options when using force. The “progression of force” continuum includes eight elements of police action ranging from the officer’s presence to the use of a chemical agent and, ultimately, to deadly force.
Policy clearly states, however, that “officers are not required to utilize each of the available options before escalating to another option.”
The department also makes public the general process for investigating a police shooting on their website.
The police department’s Public Integrity Unit interviews witnesses and officers involved in the shooting incidents and their investigations are "complex" and can last "weeks to months," Hardison said.
Officers are not required to provide a formal statement until they’ve had a chance to view the body camera footage, according to police policy.
Once the Public Integrity Unit completes the initial investigation, the office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney will review the findings and determine whether criminal charges should be considered. If so, the case is presented to a grand jury for a possible indictment.
Sunday's shooting is the third police shooting of the year, according to police data.
Police killed a 32-year-old white man in February. In March, they shot — but did not kill — a 39-year-old black man. Both of those shootings are still under investigation.
Police have shot 30 people since 2011, data show. Of those, 10 have been fatal.
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