I’d like to begin with this. Consistent with our history for transparency, I want to provide some context to the circumstances leading up to yesterday’s officer-involved shooting. I’ll provide some preliminary information and an explanation of the investigative process that is currently underway. I will not be taking any questions at this time, and that is due to the on-going SLED investigation. I’ll begin by offering my condolences to the family. All loss of life is tragic but especially a young adult with a full life ahead of him.
Yesterday evening around 6:00 p.m., our Community Response Team Officers (CRT) were patrolling in the area of the Keenan Terrace and Seminary Ridge neighborhoods, near Monticello Road. They were there after receiving reports of several individuals possibly breaking into vehicles.
One of our Community Response Team officers observed an African-American male on foot at the intersection of Timrod Street and Arlington Street. The officer stopped his patrol vehicle to speak with the young man and as the officer exited his vehicle, the young man turned away from the officer, put his hands around his waistline and began running away from the officer.
The officer called out the foot chase on the radio and he began pursuing. During the foot pursuit which lasted about 20 seconds, the young man produced a handgun and at that time was hit by gunfire. The young man was hit one time in the front upper body, indicating that he was facing the officer at the time he was hit by gunfire. He was transported to Prisma Health for treatment and later succumbed to his injuries.
The CPD protocol is as follows:
We requested the State Law Enforcement Division to conduct an investigation of the shooting incident in its entirety, meaning: SLED processes the crime scene, collects evidence, analyzes evidence, interviews all witnesses and involved officers, and reports those findings to the Fifth Circuit Solicitor’s Office for disposition.
CPD is conducting a concurrent administrative review of the incident and that is to determine if policy and procedure were followed properly.
Coroner Gary Watts has identified the person shot by our officer as 17-year-old Joshua D. Ruffin of Columbia.
Some additional details we can share at this time are as follows:
A weapon was recovered beside Mr. Ruffin along with a women’s-style purse containing cash. We do not know the relevance of the purse at this time.
The officer did have body-worn camera. The video has been captured and is being reviewed and preserved by investigators.
There has not been a determination at this time how many shots were fired.
We can say again that Mr. Ruffin was shot one time in the front upper body.
We do intend to release the officer’s body-worn camera footage at the appropriate time, which is not at this moment, and the reason being is this: Agents are still completing interviews at this time. Releasing body-worn camera video prematurely could potentially influence or negatively affect the integrity of those interviews.
Investigators with the CPD Crime Gun Intelligence Unit will work with SLED to determine the history of the gun. What we mean by that is, we want to know where it was purchased, who the last reported owner was, if it was reported stolen, and if it has been used in other shooting events.
We do intend to release the officer’s name, but not until after he has been interviewed by SLED and completed our internal process.
I will confirm to you that he is a white male who has been employed with CPD for 4 1/2 years and has not been involved in any previous officer-involved shootings.
We ask for your patience as we complete this investigative process and have confidence in our track record for transparency and accountability.
Thank you.
Police Chief W.H. ‘Skip’ Holbrook