By Doug Barker

and Dan Hammock

Grays Harbor News Group

Investigators in Monday’s fatal police shooting near downtown Aberdeen will have the aid of surveillance video from a nearby business.

Meantime, Grays Harbor County Chief Deputy Coroner Tom Thompson identified the man as Kristopher D. Fitzpatrick, 41, of Aberdeen.

A 46-second surveillance video surfaced on Facebook Tuesday morning. It shows Fitzpatrick walking in a small parking lot along State Street, seeming agitated. He turns and yells at someone outside the frame, and a police SUV unit quickly pulls into the lot. The man starts to walk toward the driver’s side and yells at the officer inside. Just a few seconds later he is shot, and two officers who had been outside the frame walk toward the man on the ground as an officer gets out of the SUV. It’s not clear from the video which of the officers might have shot Fitzpatrick.

The video shows only the end of the incident, which started about two blocks away with Aberdeen police trying to arrest Fitzpatrick on outstanding warrants.

Social media comments mostly excoriated police and questioned the legitimacy of the shooting.

Aberdeen Police Chief Steve Shumate told The Daily World that he has seen the video via Facebook and made sure the multi-agency investigating team knew of its existence.

“Unfortunately, the one thing you can’t see in that video is that he had a very small pistol in his hand,” Shumate said.

The chief said he got there almost immediately after the shooting and saw a light-colored pistol at the man’s side. He said audio recordings of the radio traffic will confirm other officers shouted that he had a gun. Investigators likely will use the audio recordings to help piece together a timeline, he said.

“The firearm is not a made-up, fictitious thing,” Shumate said. “Again, we are not investigating this (internally), but my hope is the investigative unit will turn up where and when he got that.”

In his initial statement Monday, Shumate described the shooting like this:

“As the officer approached the man, the man told the officer several times that he was not going back to prison. The man started to reach for something in his pants pocket as the officer ordered him to stop. The man then fled on foot southwest toward State Street. Another Aberdeen officer was nearby and gave chase on foot.

“As the suspect neared the East and West State Street area, the suspect pulled a gun on the pursuing officer. The officer had ordered the man to drop the gun before the suspect was shot multiple times. The suspect later died at the hospital from his injuries.”

On Tuesday, Shumate said, “You can’t be a felon and tell us you’re not going back to prison and you can’t have a gun in your hand and not expect the consequences.”

Grays Harbor Sheriff Rick Scott said the 46 seconds circulating on Facebook is part of the larger security camera video his team is reviewing. He said investigators can’t yet release video they collected as evidence, but will do so when they can.

He said that after reviewing the 46-second cut, “nothing we’ve found to this point is inconsistent with the statement Chief Shumate gave preliminarily yesterday.”

Eyewitness

Phil Calloway, executive director of Revival Grays Harbor,witnessed portions of the incident, which occurred shortly before noon Monday. At the time, he said, he was in Furniture World’s clearance center, 217 S. Broadway St., at the corner of Broadway and Heron streets. Curious, he stepped outside.

“I was at the furniture store when I saw the reflection of a badge in the window and knew something was going on,” said Calloway. “The guy was real fidgety and kept saying he was not going back to jail.”

Calloway said the Aberdeen Police officer was holding one of Fitzpatrick’s arms, but he was able to break free and run down South Broadway toward State Street. Another officer joined the chase and followed Fitzpatrick down South Broadway.

“He kept reaching toward his right pocket,” said Calloway, motioning as if to a lower pocket on the cargo shorts Fitzpatrick appeared to be wearing. He said he cautioned the second officer who took up the chase that the subject appeared to be reaching for something in his pocket.

Calloway then went into C and C Motorsports, located below Revival’s space at 115 W. Heron St., and said he did not hear any shots or personally witness the shooting. In the brief time he was with the first officer before Fitzpatrick broke free, Calloway says he did not observe a weapon.

After the shooting, Calloway said he entered the alley behind the shop and saw police evidence markers in a small grassy area adjoining a small parking lot west of Maistros Used Tire Shop on State Street. He doesn’t know for sure, but believes that is where the officer who fired the shots was standing. He said he saw nine markers in that spot.

Calloway, who is familiar with the transient population in the area through his work with Revival Grays Harbor, said he hoped he could identify the man to provide police with some background information, but said he did not recognize Fitzpatrick.

Shumate said Monday that Fitzpatrick was “well known to police.” According to court records, a warrant was issued Aug. 28 for attempting to elude a police vehicle and possession of a controlled substance with no prescription. According to the warrant order filed in Superior Court, Fitzpatrick “has 91 cases on his (criminal history), including two prior convictions for attempting to elude and three felony drug convictions.”