Washington state police officer shoots two men accused of stealing beer
By Victoria Cavaliere SEATTLE (Reuters) - A police officer in the Washington state capital of Olympia shot and wounded two unarmed black men suspected of trying to steal beer from a local supermarket on Thursday, law enforcement said. The two brothers, aged 21 and 24, were hospitalized, one of them in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds, Olympia Police Chief Ronnie Roberts said at a news conference. Officer Ryan Donald, a three-year veteran of the Olympia Police Department, told authorities the men had no weapons but attacked him with a skateboard, and that he had issued a verbal warning before opening fire. The incident follows a series of fatal police confrontations across the United States that have put law enforcement agencies under scrutiny over the use of force, particularly against minorities. After reports of the shooting, several small protests took place in Olympia, a city of about 48,000 people where only 2 percent of the population is black, according to U.S. Census data. The police chief said Donald, who is white, and other officers responded to an assault call at a supermarket around 1 a.m. An employee reported that two men who were trying to steal beer had thrown the items at him and then ran away. One man was shot in a confrontation with Donald, Roberts said, and the two suspects then ran into the woods. When they re-emerged, multiple shots were fired, Roberts said. "There was some sort of confrontation there, and the officer felt threatened and discharged his firearm," Roberts said. The men shot were identified as siblings Andre Thompson and Bryson Chaplin. Thompson, the older brother, was stable while Chaplin was critical but expected to survive, Chief Brad Watkins of the Thurston County Sheriff's Office said. Donald was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. The Olympia police will not be involved in the probe, Watkins said. Olympia police are not outfitted with body-worn cameras and there was no dash-cam video of the incident, he said. The Thurston County prosecuting attorney will review the investigation to decide if the use of force was reasonable. (Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Will Dunham and Lisa Lambert)
