The two Racine police officers who shot and killed a man earlier this year have been cleared of any wrongdoing.
As state investigators released their report Tuesday evening, Racine County District Attorney Tricia Hanson simultaneously announced that the officers would not be prosecuted.
26 year-old Donte Shannon was shot multiple times as he ran from officers and refused their commands to stay down and drop the gun he purportedly had pointed at them. A half-dozen neighbors reported hearing the officers’ frantic verbal commands…and then hearing the gunshots.
Investigators say injuries that Shannon sustained to his shooting hand and damage to the gun itself corroborate the officers’ contention that Shannon had been holding it when hit by the officers' bullets. There’s no indication, however, that Shannon had fired any shots.
About a dozen of Shannon’s friends and family received an hour-long briefing on the report Tuesday night at the Racine County Courthouse. They emerged clearly not accepting the results, and expressing overall frustration with police in general.
According to the state report, officers had been looking for Donte Shannon after having received a report that he had a gun belonging to his father and that he was driving his father’s car on a revoked license. Shannon was a convicted felon not allowed to possess a firearm.
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