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5 months ago
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A retired US Army sergeant was caught on body camera footage calmly trying to negotiate with police as he refused their orders in the moments before he was killed in an officer-involved shooting.
Trae Spurlock, 26, repeatedly told police in Casper, Wyoming that he refused to go to jail for domestic assault after admitting that he pushed his girlfriend out the door on June 6.
He could be seen in the body camera footage released Monday repeatedly drinking and vaping as he tells the officers, 'I don't care, death by cop doesn't sound too bad.'
The situation eventually escalates when he apparently tried to reach for a rifle on a balcony behind him just a few minutes later, and cops hit him with a Taser and started firing seven shots.
He was struck six times, and died of his wounds, Cowboy State Daily reports.
Trae Spurlock, 26, was killed in an officer-involved shooting in Casper, Wyoming on June 6
He told cops he wasn't going to jail, and said it's 'either death by cop or not'
Police say they were first called to Spurlock's apartment at around 9.30pm for a report of a disturbance.
When officers arrived on the scene, they spoke with a woman who claimed she was the victim of domestic violence.
Officers then tried unsuccessfully to make contact with the suspect for five minutes, the Casper Police Department reports.
Then, when the victim asked for an escort back into the apartment so that she could grab some of her belongings, they find Spurlock shirtless and in pajama pants on the balcony - with a rifle just a few feet away.
'He's out here. He's got a rifle sitting next to him,' one of the cops could be heard reporting in the body camera footage.
At that point, Spurlock walks through the sliding glass door leading to the balcony. He stops in the doorway and starts confronting the officers on the scene.
'You're trespassing, so I could shoot you,' Spurlock says matter-of-factly.
Police first encountered Spurlock sitting on his balcony, shirtless with a rifle next to him
Throughout his encounter with police, Spurlock could be seen drinking and vaping
Spurlock could then be seen slamming the sliding glass door open even further as an officer tries to explain that they were just escorting his girlfriend.
'I don't care, death by cop doesn't sound too bad, but what do you want?' he replies.
The officers then ask what had transpired between him and his girlfriend, to which he replies: 'I told her to get the f*** out, so I pushed her out. She wouldn't f****** leave.'
Apparently taking this in, one of the officers then starts to ask Spurlock to step inside the apartment and get away from the rifle.
'It's behind me,' he points out.
'Yeah like three steps behind you,' the cop shoots back.
Spurlock then seems to get defensive, telling the officers on the scene, 'I'm not going to f****** jail tonight - either death by cop or not.
'I've been in plenty of firefights in my life. I'm not afraid of another one,' he continues.
'Point being is I'm not going to jail tonight, [I] refuse to. Take that as you will.'
Spurlock, a retired Army sergeant, repeatedly told police he refused to go to jail
Spurlock would go on to tell the officers that he can hit a target at 300 yards and 'that gun's three-foot behind me.
'He can grab his pistol, she can grab her pistol faster than I can grab that f****** gun. So you're not in any immediate danger now,' he tries to assure the cop, noting: 'If I wanted to shoot you, I [could have] picked all three of you from this f****** balcony.
'If I wanted to kill you guys, it already would've been f****** done before you walked out your f******* door. You'll be fine, calm down,' he tells the cops.
Spurlock eventually agrees to step inside the apartment if the cops moved backward, and said he would meet them halfway by closing the sliding glass door halfway.
But when the officer explains that his admission to pushing his girlfriend amounts to domestic assault and he would have to go to jail, Spurlock begins to talk about the process of being handcuffed and going to jail - repeating once again that he's not going to do that.
He told officers he has been involved 'in plenty of firefights' and is 'not afraid of another one'
The cop tries to reiterate that he wants to solve the situation peacefully and asks Spurlock to 'turn around for me and put your hands behind your back,' but Spurlock refused.
He would go on to refuse to step further inside the apartment - and instead put his arm behind his back to grab the handle of the now half-closed sliding glass door.
Seeing this, one of the officers on the scene could be heard warning him, 'You're going to get tased' as he bolted out the balcony door.
The cops then acted swiftly, deploying the Taser and firing seven gunshots as Spurlock fell to the ground.
Immediately after, one of the cops could be seen trying to administer first aid, as Spurlock lay curled up in a fetal position, moaning.
Spurlock was shot and Tased after he refused to step back into the apartment - and instead seemed to bolt toward his rifle
Spurlock leaves behind three children, the Buffalo Bulletin reports.
His friend Ryan Sweeney described him in the aftermath as a 'terrific human being.
'He's done a lot through his actions to show that, and he's always been servient to other people,' Sweeney said.
Police have not identified the officer that fired the fatal shots, but have said the cop has been placed on administrative leave as the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation and the Natrona County District Attorney's Office probes the shooting.
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