CASPER — Dramatic body cam video from a fatal confrontation with a domestic violence suspect released by the Casper Police Department on Monday shows an officer shooting seven shots at the suspect, then attempts to save the man’s life.
The more than 22-minute video shows body cam video from several offers at the scene June 6 when 26-year-old Trae Spurlock repeatedly refused to comply with directives, then seems to retreat onto the balcony of his apartment where there’s a rifle.
As he’s turning around, Spurlock is hit with a taser and goes down, then in quick succession, the loud pops of gunfire ring out seven times in quick succession. It’s dark on the balcony and the muzzle flashes from the gunshots can be seen.
“It’s me, I shot the suspect,” one of the officers says.
The CPD reports at the end of the video that six of the shots hit Spurlock, who died.
During a prolonged conversation with police inside his apartment in the 5000 block of Pay It Forward Drive, police and Spurlock seem calm, but the suspect was uncooperative, sparring with officers about why he isn’t going to jail after telling police he pushed his girlfriend out the door.
At one point, he says, “I don’t care, death by cop doesn’t sound too bad, but what do you want?”
The video shows police escorting his girlfriend into an apartment. After about 15 minutes of conversation, Spurlock darts out onto his balcony and the deployment of a taser can be heard and seen, and then the seven shots as officers quickly follow him out the balcony door.
Just prior to that, the officer informed Spurlock that he needed be under arrest because he admitted he “pushed” his girlfriend out the door.
Previous video shows a shirtless Spurlock in pajama-like bottoms alternately vaping and drinking from a jar standing in the open sliding door doorway to the balcony where a rifle was located. He repeated dropped “f-bombs” while speaking with the officer.
The officer involved in the fatal shooting has not been identified, and has been placed on administrative leave as the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation investigates the incident.
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Conversations
After the officer asks him to step inside, Spurlock tells him with drink in hand that, “No, we are talking perfectly fine now.”
Spurlock also told the officers that he’s not going to go to jail and did not intend to shoot them.
“I’m not going to jail tonight, I hope you know that,” he said. Spurlock told officers he could hit a target at 300 yards and kept saying he would not step inside.
“That gun’s 3-foot behind me,” he told the officer, apparently pointing at two other officers in the apartment. He continued to hold his drink and vaping device. “He can grab his pistol, she can grab her pistol, faster than I can grab that f***ing gun. So, you’re not in any immediate danger now.”
The officer continues to ask him to come inside “without having a f***ing shootout.”
“I’m not, I’m not having a shootout right now. We’re talking,” Spurlock said.
At one point, Spurlock closes the door to the balcony halfway saying, “I’ll give you that.”
The officer explains that his admission to pushing is girlfriend is a domestic assault and he will have to go to jail.
“It is technically a domestic assault,” the officer said. “So, you understand we have to do our jobs.”
The officer said he wanted things to resolve safely.
“I understand that,” Spurlock replied, then tells the officer he has performed two of the requests he has asked for.
Refusing To Cooperate
The officer asks Spurlock to close the door so they can deal with the domestic assault issue. Spurlock then talks about the process of being handcuffed and going to jail.
At 16:21 into the video Spurlock is asked to turn around so handcuffs can be applied.
“So, turn around for me and put your hands behind your back,” the officer says.
“No,” Spurlock says.
“Step this way,” the officer continues.
“No,” Spurlock says again.
At that point, Spurlock put his right arm behind his back and starts to edge back through the sliding door of the balcony as the officer tells him, “You’re going to get, your going to get tased.”
Shots Fired
With his right arm, Spurlock pushes the sliding door open and bolts out the balcony door, he’s tased and then the sound of seven gunshots go off.
“365, 365 shots fired,” an officer says. “Get that gun away from him.”
An officer then apparently moves the rifle and officers begin to administer first aid.
Spurlock’s body can be seen curled in the fetal position at the apartment’s balcony, at that point breathing. Faint moaning can also be heard from him.
The Casper Police Department then reports that six of the officer’s rounds hit Spurlock as he went for the weapon. Life saving measures began right after the shots were fired at 10:08 p.m. with EMS arriving at 10:13.
About That Coroner’s Report
Natrona County Coroner Jim Whipps and Casper Police Department Chief Keith McPheeters both made statements introducing the video during a press conference Monday, with Whipps apologizing for the inadvertent release of a preliminary coroner’s report to the Casper Star-Tribune.
That is opposite of what the coroner’s office told Cowboy State Daily last week in response to a public records request for the preliminary report, which at that time was already in the public domain because of the Star-Tribune story.
“The Casper Star-Tribune absolutely did not get that information from us,” Natrona County Coroner’s Office Lead Detective Taylor Jessee told Cowboy State Daily in an email.
Whipps said the preliminary autopsy report is a “singular aspect of information, not intended for public release.”
“It is just one aspect of the investigation,” he said. “It is meant to be compared within the context of all other aspects of the investigation. Together they are meant to facilitate the ultimate conclusions based upon overall facts and evidence.”
Whipps said the report taken alone can lead to “inaccurate assumptions.”
McPheeters said the department followed protocol and immediately turned the investigation over to Wyoming Department of Investigation. He said the body cam videos are the only part of the investigation that his department has access to. McPheeters said he cleared the release of the videos with both DCI and the Natrona County District Attorney’s Office.
Casper DCI Commander Ryan Cox said he did not have a time frame on when the investigation would be completed. Based on similar investigations in the past, he said a typical time frame is about three months.
“The typical time frame from date of incident to release is approximately three months,” he said.
Court records in Natrona County Court show that Spurlock had previous involvement with the court system related to domestic violence.
Contact Dale Killingbeck at dale@cowboystatedaily.com
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
