DCI: Officers justified in shooting

Area law officers were justified in their actions shooting and killing a man who had first been seen with a gun by a customer at Love’s Travel Stop in Floyd, the Bremer County attorney has determined.
The man, identified as Jihad Merrick, was killed south of exit 212 on the Avenue of the Saints near Plainfield on Jan. 17, after about a half-hour standoff with seven law enforcement officers from four departments.
The incident was investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation at the request of the Bremer County sheriff, according to a report released by the Bremer County Attorney’s Office on Tuesday.
The report said Merrick tried to accelerate his car while officers were trying to get him out of his vehicle, and one officer fired eight rounds from a handgun and another officer fired one round from a rifle. Merrick was pronounced dead at the scene.
Bremer County Attorney Kasey Wadding concluded, “The use of deadly force by the officers was justified in accordance with Iowa law. There were numerous instances where Mr. Merrick’s volatile behavior put the officers and the public in general at serious risk of death.
“The officers had a reasonable belief that the use of deadly force was necessary to avoid injury or risk to their lives,” Wadding wrote.
 
For more of this article, see Friday's Tribune.

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