Police shoot, kill man near BSU campus

BOISE — The Boise Police Department shot and killed a man Thursday after he allegedly charged officers with a weapon, according to the police chief.

Chief Ron Winegar told reporters at a news conference Thursday that just before 10:55 a.m., the department received a call from the man, who was in his 50s, asking for police assistance at the Morrison Park Apartments, where he lived. The downtown Boise complex is near Boise State University and typically houses students.

Winegar said that officers arrived at the apartment complex, where they initially spoke to the man from his balcony while officers were in the parking lot.

The man, who they encountered several days ago, then came downstairs, when Winegar said the man charged the officers with several weapons, including a “sharp” or “hitched weapon” after commands were given for him to stop. He added that two officers — who were wearing body cameras — were involved in the shooting. The officers will be placed on administrative leave, which is protocol after a shooting.

“This is certainly not something that anyone in our community wants to happen,” Winegar said. “The officers don’t want to be involved in situations like this.”

The man died at the scene, Winegar said. Jacob Davidson, a window installer who was working in the area, told the Idaho Statesman in person that he heard five gunshots.

In a tweet, Boise police asked the public to avoid the residential area near Boise State University following the shooting. Police said they closed Dale Street between West Royal Boulevard and West Island Avenue.

The Meridian Police Department is leading an investigation on the incident as part of the Critical Incident Task Force, which is launched after every police shooting. Neither of the officers were injured.

Four fatal Boise police shootings this year

Another shooting in downtown Boise on Thursday marks the fourth fatal shooting by Boise police this year, a record number for the agency in decades, according to Idaho Statesman data.

The shooting occurred near Ann Morrison Park on South Dale Street. Around 2:40 p.m., police confirmed the person involved, identified only as a man in his 50s, died at the scene.

Boise police have been involved in six shootings since the start of the year. The three most recent shootings — of 22-year-old Payton Wasson on June 24, 28-year-old Macey Juker on July 26 and Thursday’s unidentified man — have been fatal. Boise police also shot and killed 32-year-old Eli Nash in a Meridian parking lot in January.

Boise police were involved in three fatal shootings in 2016 and two fatal shootings in 2021, 2017 and 2004, according to data analyzed by the Statesman. The Statesman’s records date back to 2000.

Last year, the Boise Police Department shot three people, but none of the shootings were fatal. It was the first year since 2014 that the agency was not involved in a fatal shooting.

According to data compiled by the Washington Post and the Statesman, various law enforcement agencies have shot and killed eight people in Idaho this year. One of those was killed by Ada County sheriff’s deputies outside of Boise in April. The three others were killed by police in Blackfoot, Idaho Falls and Pocatello.

Thursday’s shooting makes 2023 one of the deadliest years for police shootings in Idaho since 2000. Statesman data shows police killed eight people in 2019 and 13 people in both 2018 and 2021.