In Casper, Wyoming, a body camera captured the moments leading up to the officer-involved shooting that killed Trae Spurlock, a former US Army sergeant.
Although Spurlock, 26, admitted to pushing his fiancée out the door on June 6, he adamantly refused to go to jail for domestic abuse, telling officers this many times. The video shows him consuming alcohol and puffing on a vape while he says to the police That “death by cop” doesn’t sound that bad.
A few minutes later, as Spurlock reached for a gun on a balcony behind him, the scene escalated with no turning back; the police Tasered him and fired seven rounds. He was hit six times before succumbing to his injuries.
At around 9.30 p.m., the police were summoned to a disturbance call at Spulock’s residence. A woman who talked with the responding police said she had been a victim of domestic abuse. Officers tried unsuccessfully to make contact with the suspect for five minutes.
When the woman requested an escort to return to the apartment, Spurlock was discovered on his balcony in just pajama bottoms with a rifle nearby.
The cops ordered Spurlock to come off the property and put down the gun. Spurlock told the police they were trespassing, so he was free to shoot them. The police tell him that they are just interested in escorting his girlfriend off the property.
The police said that his confession to shoving his fiancée could be seen as domestic abuse, and he could be arrested. Spurlock then gets heated, saying he isn’t going to jail and that it would be fine if they shit him, that he’d been in firefights before. The police request that Spurlock retreat into the house and get away from the rifle.
In a flash, Spurlock is shot and collapses to the ground. Spurlock writhed in pain and curled up in a fetal position while one of the officers attempted to offer first aid.
He died.
He was the father of three children. The last thing he said was that he wasn’t going to jail, and he was right.
The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, in conjunction with the Natrona County District Attorney’s Office, is investigating the shooting.
