Boise area had 11 police shootings in ’23, five so far in ’24. Here’s where things stand

So far in 2024, police officers in the Treasure Valley have been involved in five shootings, four of which were fatal. Two of the deadly shootings have involved the Boise Police Department, while the Ada County Sheriff’s Office has also been involved in two, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs in one.

In addition to citizen deaths, an Ada County Sheriff’s Department deputy was killed during a shooting on April 20. Deputy Tobin Bolter became the first death in the agency’s history in the line of duty.

Whenever a law enforcement agency is involved in a police shooting, it triggers a Critical Incident Task Force investigation. The task force comprises neighboring agencies; for Ada County, it includes the Sheriff’s Office, Idaho State Police, and the Boise, Meridian and Garden City police departments.

One of the neighboring agencies is tasked with completing an outside investigation. That agency sends its report to their county’s prosecutor’s office, which generally will send the report and other investigative materials, like body-camera footage, to another prosecutor’s office that would have no possible conflict of interest. That prosecutor decides whether the officer or officers were justified in their actions.

There were 11 police shootings in 2023, and eight of the shootings’ external investigations have been finalized, clearing the involved officers of any wrongdoing in each case. The other three are still under investigation.

Here’s what we know about the shootings, as well as the latest updates on last year’s police shootings. The map shows the locations of all 16 shootings since the start of 2023. Those in 2023 are indicated by a red symbol and those in 2024 indicated by blue.

Boise police shoot man after he stabs two police dogs

The first police shooting of 2024 occurred on Jan. 24 when an Ada County Sheriff’s Office deputy approached a man wearing a tarp and looking over fences in a neighborhood west of the Boise Airport. The individual, later identified as 37-year-old Jeremiah Gaver, refused to explain his actions, prompting additional sheriff deputies and Boise Police Department officers to arrive.

After half an hour, at around 1 a.m., police used a K9 dog to attempt to bring Gaver into custody. Gaver stabbed the dog and made a run for it before stabbing a second police dog who had tried to bring him down.

Boise Police Officer Camron Johnson was one of five law enforcement personnel who shot at Gaver; the four Ada County sheriff’s deputies who fired their weapons haven’t been identified, according to previous Idaho Statesman reporting. The Sheriff’s Office doesn’t identify officers until the outside investigation is completed.

The two dogs, Astrid and Meko, survived the stabbings, according to Boise police.

Anna Carstensen, Gaver’s sister, said during a March protest in front of Boise City Hall the the body-camera footage should be released and called the shooting a “one-sided tale.”

“Jeremiah was not a bad man, and he was not a criminal,” Carstensen said, adding that her brother had a mental disability.

The shooting is being investigated by the Meridian Police Department.

Ada deputy shoots man after ‘brief confrontation’

The Ada County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call in the early hours of Feb. 11 of a man firing a gun near an irrigation canal in the 10000 block of West Seneca Drive, south of West Victory and South Five Mile roads.

The Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that a “brief confrontation occurred,” which resulted in an unidentified deputy opening fire on 23-year-old Dominic Soto. He was transported to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, according to previous Statesman reporting, where he died.

The Boise Police Department is investigating the shooting.

Man fatally shot on Native American land

Officers with the U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs, responsible for enforcing tribal laws and making arrests on Native American land, pursued a vehicle from the Duck Valley Reservation in Nevada into Idaho on March 2.

Inside the vehicle was 39-year-old Cody Whiterock, of Owyhee, according to Idaho State Police investigators. Court records show Whiterock had a warrant out for his arrest for a December incident in which he was charged with a felony for fleeing law enforcement, and a misdemeanor for resisting or obstructing officers.

Once in Idaho, Whiterock ran from his car, which is when officers opened fire. Whiterock was hit and pronounced dead later that day, according to previous Statesman reporting.

Idaho State Police, the agency investigating the shooting, declined to answer a list of questions, including the officers’ identities, and told the Statesman that any IDs would be made by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Bureau of Indian Affairs didn’t respond to several requests for comment.

Aaron Snell, a spokesperson for ISP, said they were working on the “final pieces” of the investigation.

Boise police officer shoots IDOC officer during prisoner escape

Boise Police Department Officer Wayne Anderson accidentally shot a Department of Correction officer on March 20 during an ambush on IDOC officers. IDOC was transporting prisoner Skylar Meade, 31, from Saint Al’s at approximately 2:15 a.m. when officers were fired upon by an individual who was later identified as 28-year-old Nicholas Umphenour.

Boise police responded to the ambush, and an IDOC officer was shot by Anderson, who mistook the officer for one of the suspects. According to police, Anderson shot at an “armed individual near the entrance” of the hospital. The IDOC officer was treated for his injuries and was in stable condition immediately following the incident.

The shooting is still being investigated by the Ada County Sheriff’s Office, and it’s unknown when the case will be handed off to an outside prosecutor for review, as it is an “intensive and extensive” process, Lauren Montague, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office, said by email.

She added that any officers who were involved or witnessed the shooting have been interviewed.

Boise police shoot man who killed Ada County deputy

A Boise police officer shot and killed 65-year-old Dennis Mulqueen on April 27 after the suspect shot and killed Ada County Sheriff’s Deputy Bolter, 27, during a traffic stop.

Bolter stopped a vehicle at around 9 p.m. near the area of Overland Road and South Raymond Street when Mulqueen shot him, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Law enforcement launched a manhunt and located Mulqueen outside a home on South Jackson Street at around midnight.

Members of the Boise Police Department’s Special Operations Unit tried to take Mulqueen into custody safely but fired at him after he shot at officers, according to previous Statesman reporting. Mulqueen was given medical aid and taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said. No officers were injured.

The officer who shot Mulqueen hasn’t been identified.

Prosecutors clear officers in 2023 shootings

Of the investigations into police shootings that occurred in 2023, eight have been finalized, clearing the officers of any wrongdoing. This includes the high-profile shooting of Payton Wasson, which garnered several protests throughout the city.

The 22-year-old was shot in the head while running away from police with a gun in his hand on a late June night in downtown Boise. Police Chief Ron Winegar said officers don’t have a choice but to intervene when someone is armed, desperate and running toward a crowd of people.

Wasson’s family, specifically his mother, Marah Wasson, has been critical of the police’s actions that night, calling the shooting “senseless.”

“Payton Wasson was a victim of senseless violence at the hands of those sworn to protect us,” she said in a statement read on her behalf during a protest. “He was shot in the back of the head while running for his life from a Boise police officer.”

The other three shootings are still under investigation. Two of them have been handed off to prosecutors from agencies outside the Treasure Valley:

• In August, 54-year-old Christian Johnson was killed by two Boise police officers after he allegedly charged at officers with a sharp weapon. The Boise resident had called the police asking for help at the Morrison Park Apartments, where he lived.

• In September, the Star Police Department responded to a field off the west side of Idaho Highway 16 where 41-year-old Chris Huffman — who was reportedly suicidal — was waving around a handgun, police said. An officer killed Huffman after he refused to drop the gun, shot himself, and then sat up and started moving the gun around again, according to the Ada County Sheriff’s Office.

• The nonfatal shooting of an unidentified, reportedly suicidal 19-year-old, who was shot by a Canyon County sheriff’s deputy, is still under investigation, according to spokesperson Joe Decker.