It took more than six weeks for police in Jefferson City, Missouri to conclude their investigation into a November 1 shooting in the parking lot of a shopping complex, but after speaking to more than a dozen eyewitnesses, viewing surveillance video, and interviewing the gun owner who fatally shot 27-year-old Erik Spencer, law enforcement has concluded that the shooting was a justifiable use of force under Missouri law.
Information about the case was submitted to a grand jury, which refused to file any charges against the armed citizen, who shot Spencer to defend a woman who he was attacking.
Spencer was romantically involved with the woman, according to prosecutors, and got into a verbal argument with her outside a Chili's restaurant in the Wildwood Shopping Center just before 8 p.m. on November 1. Multiple eyewitnesses described the confrontation growing violent, with Spencer slapping and punching the woman as well as repeatedly throwing her to the ground.
According to prosecutors, several people yelled at Spencer to stop, but he paid them no mind. That's when the armed citizen got involved.
The man that shot Spencer was sitting with a friend in the friend’s car in the same parking lot when they saw the disturbance, Wilde said. The man exited the vehicle and went to his own vehicle and retrieved a firearm from the trunk, Wilde said.
The man approached Spencer and the woman, Wilde said. Witnesses said that after a verbal exchange, Spencer placed his hands out to his sides and proceeded to reach toward his waist with his right hand. Witnesses said the man then shot Spencer, Wilde said.
Jefferson City Police Chief Eric Wilde says that even though Spencer did not have a firearm, his hands, fists and feet count as weapons, especially since Spencer had used them to violently assault his girlfriend.
Witnesses said that after the shooting, the man knelt next to Spencer and attempted to provide aid.
Wilde said when officers arrived, the man who shot Spencer was taken into custody at the scene and taken to the Police Department.
During an interview by Jefferson City police detectives, the man indicated that he intervened on behalf of the woman witnesses said was being attacked and that he attacked in defense of her and himself. Wilde said that the man who shot Spencer perceived Spencer as a threat.
Spencer's family had been pressing police to provide more details about their investigation in the weeks after the shooting, but Wilde told reporters that his hands were tied because of the dependence on eyewitness testimony. Releasing details about the shooting and the investigation could have led to people falsely testifying as witnesses and providing bogus accounts of the shooting to law enforcement.
Cole County Prosecuting Attorney Locke Thompson there was "no dispute" among the eyewitnesses that there was a "forcible felony occurring on the domestic victim that was being perpetrated by Erik Spencer at that time, and that’s when he (the shooter) chose to intervene."
Wilde acknowledged a difference in opinion about whether the man who shot Spencer had the right to do so.
“I think that this is one of those incidents that continues to divide communities across our nation,” Wilde said. “Because there are some people that say that this was an absolute right to come to somebody’s defense and defend them, and then you’ve got other people that say that this is outrageous behavior. I’m somewhere in the middle. I follow facts. I deal with situations at scenes and run investigations to be able to get justice.”
Missouri has a “stand your ground” law, which allows the use of deadly force even when it’s possible for the person using the force to retreat.
“Missouri’s self-defense laws are some of the strongest in the country, and right, wrong or indifferent, we are bound by the laws passed by our legislature,” Thompson said. “It does not mean we stand up here today to condone the shooter’s actions. Regardless of how things played out, Erik Spencer was a beloved son, brother and uncle, and no matter the circumstances, his death is a tragedy, and our condolences go out to his parents, sisters and other family and friends.”
This shouldn't be all that divisive, frankly. You've got someone who was repeatedly assaulting his girlfriend, who threw her phone across the parking lot so she couldn't call 911, and actually clung to her car when she was able to escape his punches and get behind the wheel to try and drive away.
If the woman was inside her car when the armed citizen approached, it could be argued that Spencer didn't pose a threat to her life at that particular moment, but based on his physical assault of her and his reaching towards his waist as if to draw a gun, I think it was reasonable for the armed citizen to believe that his life too was being threatened at that moment.
Spencer has had a number of defenders talk about his kindness and faith, and maybe it was completely out of character for him to become violent with his girlfriend. Even if that was the case, he was still incredibly violent towards her on the night of November 1, and the armed citizen was originally just trying to protect her from harm when he approached Spencer and demanded he stop. If Stewart hadn't put his hands on his girlfriend, or even if he had walked away when confronted by the armed citizen, he'd be alive today. The prosecuting attorney may not condone the armed citizen's actions, but a grand jury did, and that's what counts.
Editor's Note: Christmas is coming a little early here at Bearing Arms!
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