Evansville police identify officers involved in recent shooting incidents

EVANSVILLE — The names of officers involved in a shooting and a shots-fired report this month were released Wednesday morning by the Evansville Police Department.

The shooting occurred May 9 when officers arrived in the 1500 block of East Indiana Street and reportedly recognized a man who had a felony warrant for his arrest.

The officers named in that shooting Jaylan Hyneman and Taz Cassidy. Hyneman was hired by EPD in March 2021, while Cassidy took the job in 2020.

The second incident occurred May 17 when officers also attempted to serve a warrant on a man in the 200 block of East Louisiana Street. The officers involved were Cole Miles and Detective John Montgomery.

Miles was sworn in as an EPD officer in 2020. Montgomery has been with EPD since 2008.

In both instances the officers have returned from their mandated three-day leave and are on active duty.

Kody Schaum, 35

Police shot 35-year-old Kody Schaum multiple times on May 9.

According to EPD spokeswoman Sgt. Anna Gray, two EPD officers were driving in separate vehicles in the 1500 block of East Indiana Street when they recognized Schaum and realized he had a local warrant for his arrest. The warrant was for a failure to appear on felony charges of possession of meth, possession of a syringe, possession of marijuana, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.

The officers stopped and told Schaum to raise his hands. Body cam footage shows he didn't immediately comply and continued talking to officers.

An officer then said over his radio, "we've got one at gunpoint. He's not showing us his hands."

Two seconds later, more than 10 shots were fired by police.

"(The man) removed his right hand from the vehicle and was holding a handgun," Gray said in a news conference after the shooting. "He raised the firearm and racked the slide."

Dashcam footage shows the man with a gun in his hand as officers shoot him. He falls to the ground, with what police say was a .9mm handgun as officers continue to tell him to raise his hands.

The last update provided by EPD on Schaum was that he had undergone surgery and was still in the hospital.

Samuel Earl Curry Jr., 36

Police shot at 36-year-old Samuel Earl Curry Jr. multiple times on May 17, never striking him.

According to EPD, two Evansville police officers were serving a felony warrant in the city's Jimtown neighborhood as a part of an operation involving a city-county task force and multiple undercover officers.

Curry was arrested on charges of felony parole violation, along with possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon and felony intimidation.

Once Curry parked at a Sunoco gas station at 201 E. Louisiana St., uniformed officers and Vanderburgh County sheriff's deputies boxed in his vehicle and shouted at Curry to show his hands.

Body camera footage showed officers telling Curry to get out of the car. Curry repeatedly told officers he was going to kill himself.

"He did not cooperate," Gray said. "He did open up his driver-side door [and] he did produce a handgun at that time."

The body camera footage doesn't show the moment when Curry reportedly pulled his weapon, which police said he never fired.

Two EPD officers then fired their duty weapons at Curry, but he was not hit or injured, according to police. Gray said the rounds hit Curry's vehicle, which led him to discard his firearm, put his hands up and surrender.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Evansville police ID officers involved in recent shooting incidents