2 Columbia officers won’t face charges in fatal shooting

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Two Columbia police officers who shot and killed a man in May will not face charges. Miller County Prosecutor Ben Winfrey, who was a special prosecutor in the case, said he believed a jury would find that Lt. Lance Bolinger and Sgt. Roger Schlude were acting in defense of themselves and others when they shot James Sears III at a Columbia gas station. Winfrey said witnesses reported Sears reached for a gun in his belt when the officers approached him with their guns drawn. He says the investigation found that Sears did not comply with the officers’ demands to put his hands up before he was shot.