St. Paul police released body-camera footage Friday of officers fatally shooting a homicide suspect who allegedly pointed a gun at officers when they encountered him last weekend.
Officers received an anonymous report after 1 p.m. last Saturday that Mychel Stowers was on a bicycle at a laundromat on the 1100 block of West Seventh Street, according to police. A warrant had been issued for Stowers’ arrest when prosecutors charged him Oct. 24 with the murder of his pregnant wife, Damara Alexis Kirkland.
The video can be seen on the St. Paul Police Department’s YouTube page.
“We are committed to the sanctity of the independent investigation; we are also committed to the transparency of our actions,” Police Chief Axel Henry said in a Friday statement. “That’s why we are releasing the body-worn camera and in-car camera footage from this incident. No one wants apprehensions to result in the use of force of any kind. Not using force is always our goal — and is the outcome of the majority of our officers’ interactions.”
Police did not initially spot Stowers at the laundromat, but while they monitored the business, he approached the location on a bicycle. He left on his bike and “multiple squads converged on him as he reached the intersection of Watson Avenue and Bay Street,” the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is investigating, said in a statement earlier this week.
“Before officers could confirm his identity, the man, now identified as Stowers, produced a handgun and pointed it at the officers,” the BCA said.
Officers Matthew Foy and Eric Jaworski shot Stowers, who died of multiple gunshot wounds a short time later at Regions Hospital.
The BCA found a handgun at the location where the officers shot Stowers.
When the BCA investigation is complete, the agency said it will present its findings to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office for review on the legality of the officers’ actions.
Mychel Allan Stowers (Courtesy of the Minnesota Department of Corrections)
Stowers was charged in the fatal shooting of Kirkland, 35, in her apartment in St. Paul’s North End on Oct. 19. An autopsy found she was eight to nine weeks pregnant, and one of the murder charges was for the death of her unborn child. Stowers was also charged with shooting a man in the leg as he carjacked him and fled the area.
Stowers was released from prison in March in the 2008 killing of a man in St. Paul. He was on work release, and the Minnesota Department of Corrections said he was under supervision by their agency and a halfway house.
The police shooting of Stowers was the third by St. Paul officers since Sept. 26. All three have involved homicide suspects who were allegedly armed with guns when police encountered them.
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