JCPD details witness accounts of Erik Spencer shooting death
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Cole County's top prosecutor and the Jefferson City police chief detailed the investigation into a shooting in a commercial parking lot that resulted in no charges during a news conference Friday.
Prosecuting Attorney Locke Thompson and Jefferson City Police Department Chief Eric Wilde expressed sympathy to the family of Erik Spencer II, who was shot during a confrontation Nov. 1 in a parking lot outside Old Navy.
Wilde said no video existed of the shooting, so police had to rely on eyewitness statements.
He said those eyewitnesses said Spencer was physically assaulting a woman, including pulling her out of a car, before he was confronted and shot. He had already thrown the woman to the ground several times, Wilde said.
Wilde said that the reported assault victim gave inconsistent statements in the investigation. Thompson said she first claimed the confrontation with Spencer was not physical.
Thompson said the grand jury made the decision not to charge the shooter, and that he had no input in that decision.
On Thursday, Thompson said in a news release that no charges will be filed against Spencer Scrivner for the Nov. 1 shooting.
Scrivner, an employee of the Missouri Department of Corrections, was put on leave during the investigation.
Thompson said a grand jury declined to indict Scrivner for manslaughter, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon. The grand jury found Scrivner's actions were done "in lawful defense of another," Thompson wrote in a news release.
Thompson said Friday that Scrivner told investigators Spencer had threatened to shoot him. Spencer did not have a weapon, Wilde said. Four shots were fired, he said.
ABC 17 News reached out to the Spencer family for comment, but has not yet heard back. The Spencer family has called for transparency and criminal charges during multiple public appearances.
