WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita police officer will not be charged in the fatal shooting of a man who was holding his girlfriend at knifepoint.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said Tuesday the officer who shot Jose Ortiz in August 2017 used reasonable force in firing one shot that struck Ortiz in the head.
Bennett says an autopsy showed Ortiz was using methamphetamine during the confrontation, and the meth caused Ortiz to believe his girlfriend was hiding men in her bathroom.
The district attorney says SWAT officers who entered the home found Ortiz holding his girlfriend with a knife. He hands were tied behind her back.
Ortiz ignored commands to release his girlfriend. Bennett says when the woman winced in pain, the officer believed she was being stabbed and fired once.