Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter released more details Tuesday on a fatal shooting that involved a Wichita police officer on July 31st.
The Sheriff’s Office has been investigating the shooting that took place in a parking lot near Central and Hillside, after officers had stopped a car.
Sheriff Easter said the officers were following up on a complaint about a drug house, and they saw a car leaving the house, noticing that it had an altered and expired registration tag. The officers made a traffic stop and the car went into the parking lot. There were three men in the car, and one of the officers saw a man in the back seat stuffing an object under the seat. The man was ordered out of the car, but he refused to comply and an officer used a Taser. The man then drew a gun and pointed it toward an officer, a second officer behind the car saw the man point the gun at his own head and the man fired a shot. The first officer then fired his weapon.
The man was identified as 29-year-old Brennan Russell, and he was dead at the scene. Officers saw fentanyl in the back of the car and they could also see fentanyl residue on Russell’s hand. Easter said fentanyl was later recovered from the car. An autopsy was ordered, but it’s believed that Russell died from the self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Sheriff Easter released a couple of photos and a brief clip from body cameras work by the officers. He said information will be presented to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office for a decision on the case.
[ photo: from a brief clip taken from an officer’s body camera of the confrontation with Brennan Russell ]
