The morning of the incident, Mr. Thompkins was sleeping in an upstairs bedroom with his ex-wife, Brenda Richmond. His elderly, disabled mother, Carrie Montague, was sleeping in a bedroom on the first floor near the front door.
Ms. Richmond awoke to find Mr. Jeter-Clark standing over her bed and woke up her husband as she watched the intruder leave the bedroom. Mr. Thompkins grabbed his ex-wife's handgun and told her to call 911.
Police, however, had already been called to the residence by Ms. Montague. She told a 911 operator that someone had just broken into her home, that she was disabled and alone, and that she was afraid and unable to protect herself.
Over the next two minutes, as the alarm continued blaring and a dog barked, Mr. Thompkins can be heard in the background of the 911 call yelling for his mother and telling Mr. Jeter-Clark to get out.
"Further confusing the matter, the 911 operator heard a man inside the house yelling 'Mom,' but Montague told the operator that the voice belonged to the intruder and not her son," the grand jury report said. "The scene was chaotic and confusing."
Officers Maddox and Flicker announced their arrival at the front door 3:56 a.m. and pounded on a locked screen door. Ms. Montague, who was about eight feet away, begged them to enter the home, but the door was jammed after being opened by Mr. Jeter-Clark.
The officers could hear Mr. Thompkins yelling at Mr. Jeter-Clark to get out, and, apparently without realizing that police were already on scene, imploring Ms. Richmond to call 911.
Christopher Thompkins was shot by police inside his home in Larimer after police received a call about an intruder. Thompkins' wife, Brenda Richmond, has filed a lawsuit against the city, the police chief and three unnamed officers for excessive force, failure to train the police and wrongful death.
At 3:57 a.m., Mr. Thompkins, standing at the top of a set of steps inside the front door, fired a shot at Mr. Jeter-Clark, who was just to the right of the door on the first floor. The shot hit the baseboard near the door.
As Mr. Thompkins continued to shout at Mr. Jeter-Clark, Ms. Montague gave inaccurate information to the 911 operator that the intruder had just shot her son.
"It is unknown whether Officer Flicker heard that statement by Montague or whether something else prompted him to act, but at 3:59:09 a.m., Officer Flicker left his position of cover next to the front door and confronted the armed individual who was still standing at the top of the stairs," the report said.
"Officer Flicker twice ordered Thompkins to show his hands in an attempt to control the quickly escalating situation. Based upon the available evidence, it appears as though Thompkins neither saw Officer Flicker nor heard his commands. As a result, Thompkins did not follow the officer's orders and fired a second shot in Jeter-Clark's direction. The second bullet also struck near the doorway close to where Jeter-Clark and both officers were located."
Officer Flicker then fired two shots at Mr. Thompkins through the screen door. Officer Maddox joined him, firing nine times. Mr. Thompkins was shot at least seven times, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office.
Police entered the house within two minutes after the shooting stopped. About three minutes later, Officer Flicker was still concerned that Mr. Thompkins was potentially dangerous and might need to be handcuffed.
It was only after Officer Flicker got close to the body that he was told Mr. Thompkins was the homeowner, according to the report.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
3
2
2
