Prosecutor clears Boise police corporal in fatal parking lot shooting in January 2023

An outside prosecutor has found that a longtime Boise police corporal was justified in the fatal shooting of a man who was being investigated on a sexual assault allegation and a parole violation, according to the Boise Police Department.

In January 2023, Boise Police Cpl. Kip Paporello shot Boise resident Eli Nash after police said he pointed a handgun in the direction of other officers. Paporello, who joined the department in 1999, was cleared of any wrongdoing.

“Nash posed an imminent threat of death or physical injury to those officers,” Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney Matthew Fredback wrote in a letter stating that criminal charges weren’t warranted against Paporello.

The shooting was one of six that involved the Boise Police Department in 2023, with four of them being fatal — one of the deadliest years on record for fatal police shootings. Paporello was also involved — and found to be justified — in the nonfatal shooting of Jeremy Waste, the Idaho Statesman previously reported.

Footage, reports outlines fatal shooting

Just before 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 23, 2023, several Boise police officers, along with the Idaho Department of Correction’s Fugitive Recovery Agents team, formulated a plan to arrest Nash, the release said. The 32-year-old was on parole for crimes involving possession of sexually exploitative child material, and police began investigating after he’d failed to register as a sex offender — as required by law.

The Boise Police Department also was investigating Nash over allegations that he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl, according to Fredback’s letter.

Police located Nash sitting in his vehicle on his phone in a Meridian Crossroads parking lot in front of a Texas Roadhouse along Fairview Avenue. Officers used their vehicles to block Nash’s car in the parking lot “to prevent him from escaping,” according to the release.

“Given Nash’s history of child pornography, a primary goal of law enforcement was to preserve any potential evidence from his phone,” Fredback said in the letter.

In body-camera footage released by the department, an officer approached the driver’s door of Nash’s vehicle with his gun drawn, and after identifying himself, told Nash to place his “hands on the steering wheel.” At the same time, several other officers approached and surrounded the car.

A little over 10 seconds later, an officer used a device called a glass punch to break a driver’s-side window, the video showed.

Nash then jumped into the back seat of his car, where the windows were covered with blankets, police said.

“I can’t see him,” one officer said in the video.

Paporello approached from behind and tapped his gun on the back window, as commands for Nash to put his hands up continued. Paporello then fired four rounds through the glass.

According to the release, Paporello was able to see through the vehicle’s rear windshield that Nash was holding a handgun and pointing it toward the rear driver’s-side door toward other officers. This isn’t clear in the footage, and police said in the video that Paporello’s body cam was on his upper chest and didn’t provide the best angle.

“He had a gun,” he said right after firing, according to the video.

The video then cuts to another officer’s body camera, which shows an officer clearly removing a firearm from Nash’s hand. Officers then began providing medical care until paramedics arrived, but Nash died at the scene.

No officers or other people were injured.

Police chief: ‘Deadly force’ is a ‘last resort’

Several people witnessed the shooting, Boise Police Chief Ron Winegar told the media at the time of the shooting. He said he didn’t know why the attempted arrest was conducted in the parking lot.

“I can’t comment on where the best place for an arrest is,” Winegar previously said. “But when we have a violent or a wanted suspect who is absconding parole, it’s in everybody’s best interest that we get them into custody as quickly as possible for everyone’s safety.”

In Friday’s news release, Winegar said that “searching for, locating and arresting non-compliant criminals is dangerous work” and that he’s grateful no officers or community members were injured.

“The use of deadly force is always viewed as a last resort and something we never take lightly,” Winegar said. “This incident is a reminder that there are those in our community who will resort to violence to avoid apprehension when engaged in criminal conduct, and we must be ever vigilant.

“The end result of this incident, a person losing his life, is extremely unfortunate, and not the outcome we were seeking.“