VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) - A search warrant indicates that a 21-year-old Black man who was shot near Vancouver, Washington during a drug investigation fired at officers.
Kevin Peterson Jr. appeared to fire twice at Clark County deputies chasing him after detectives tried to arrest him for allegedly selling 50 Xanax pills in a sting set up by an informant, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
According to a search warrant affidavit filed in Clark County District Court, Peterson arrived at about 5:50 p.m. on Oct. 30 and was dead 10 minutes later, killed by county deputies in an apparent shootout nearby.
The affidavit was written by Detective Neil Seifert of the Battle Ground Police Department. Investigators sought the warrant to search Peterson’s car for drugs. The shooting is being investigated by the Southwest Washington Independent Investigative Response Team.
When Peterson pulled into the parking lot, two members of a regional drug task force blocked Peterson’s car and tried to arrest him.
Peterson stepped out of the car and ran, according to the warrant. The deputies saw Peterson running with a .40-caliber Glock pistol which he dropped but picked up before continuing to flee, the warrant says.
Peterson ran to a shuttered US Bank branch where law enforcement was in the parking lot.
The warrant says “police radio traffic … stated that Mr. Peterson had fired two rounds” at police.
According to the warrant, one witness told investigators that she heard two gunshots that “sounded different” before “a volley of shots” that sounded the same.
A US Bank security camera also recorded Peterson “pointing what appeared to be a firearm in the direction of police,” according to the warrant.
Police found “bindles of possible narcotics” in the route Peterson took as he fled from police, the warrant says.
Investigators have not released the names of the three deputies who fired at Peterson.
Peterson’s death has led to tense demonstrations in Vancouver decrying the police killing of another Black man.
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