SPOKANE, Wash – The family of a man shot by police inside a North Spokane Walmart in 2023 is suing the city and the Walmart corporation.
Police shot and killed Kerry Jones-Hilburg inside the Walmart on North Colton.
The lawsuit says police suspected Jones-Hilburg of shoplifting and that police, along with Walmart employees, “coordinated the blitzkrieg-style approach” of approaching him.
The suit says Jones-Hilburg never threatened to shoot or harm officers, but that officers got him to the ground. One officer fired a shot, killing him.
In the lawsuit, the family says “some of the items in Mr. Jones-Hilburg’s possession had been purchased.”
The law enforcement team that investigated the shooting said he “violently resisted arrest.”
Police say they recovered a loaded firearm and additional ammunition at the scene.
The Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office investigated and determined the officer was justified in his use of deadly force.
Jones-Hilburg’s family, however, disputes that and points to what it calls the Spokane Police Department’s “history of using excessive force.”
The lawsuit accuses former police chief Craig Meidl of a culture that accepted violence and “avoid[ed] accountability for officers using excessive force.”
It attempts to prove that Walmart is liable for allowing law enforcement officers to act as security.
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