Sikeston DPS officers not charged in fatal shooting

SIKESTON — Charges will not be filed against the Sikeston Department of Public Safety officers involved in a fatal shooting in April.

Mississippi County Prosecuting Attorney Darren Cann, who was appointed special prosecuting attorney shortly after the shooting, released his decision not to file charges in a letter to Col. Eric T. Olson, superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, on Thursday. The Highway Patrol investigated the incident.

“For transparency and credibility, we immediately contacted the MSHP to conduct this investigation,” said Sikeston Department of Public Safety Director Jim McMillen. “Their investigators conducted an independent review of the incident and turned all their findings over to Special Prosecutor Darren Cann. Prosecutor Cann was also chosen to maintain impartiality, as he does not work with our officers. Cann released his findings, stating he found no wrongdoing on the part of our officers.”

Cann said his decision came after analyzing witness and officer statements, video and audio from the officer’s body cameras and the actions of the officers. He added that two DPS officers were justified in shooting Denzel Marshal Taylor.

According to the letter, DPS officers responded to a disturbance involving weapons on Dorothy Street at approximately 1:40 a.m. on April 29. Upon arrival, officers found a male, sitting on the floor, that had been shot several times in the chest area. The victim’s wife stated his son had shot him.

The victim was transported to a local hospital and officers began processing the scene. About 45 minutes later, an officer noticed a male subject, matching the shooter's description, walking toward the residence.

One officer said that the male subject, later identified as Taylor, said words to the effect “he was the guy they were looking for and that they were going to have to kill him.” According to Cann’s letter, one of the officers had a body cam and that footage did not capture the entire audio of the exchange. However, in a portion that was captured, the male subject can be heard saying, “just kill me, bro.”

Cann said that the officers approached Taylor, who had his hands in the pockets of the hoodie he was wearing. The officers repeatedly instructed Taylor to take his hands out of his pockets and he did not comply.

Each of the officers said they could see Taylor had something in the pocket of his hoodie, and at one point, Taylor raised his left hand, but his right hand remained in his pocket.

Taylor then lowered his left hand and placed it back in his pocket and can be heard saying, “just kill me, bro.” The officers then discharged their weapons.

Initially, Taylor fell to the ground and the officers stopped discharging their weapons. Then Taylor sat up, and the officers resumed firing their weapons. An eye witness corroborated the officer’s statements. Once Taylor was secured, officers found he had a piece of wood in his pocket.

“The actions of the officers fall soundly within the applicable statutes,” Cann said in the letter. “The ethical cannons governing prosecutorial conduct require that I decline criminal prosecution of the officers as no probable cause exists to believe that any criminal statutes were violated by their actions; therefore, it cannot be established beyond a reasonable doubt that any of the officers violated any criminal statute.”

McMillen said the officers have yet to return to police duties.

“With no criminal conduct being found, we will proceed to see if any departmental policies were violated and to see if there are any training needs going forward, pursuant to standard departmental policy,” McMillen said.

“I did everything I could to ensure a fair and impartial review of this incident,” he added. “This is the first event of this type we have had in my 22-year career. This incident has been traumatic for all involved and my thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the family.”