DA: no charges for Asheville officers in fatal shooting review

Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams said Asheville police officers will not face charges in a June 7 shooting at Westmont Commons apartments on Chamberlain Drive, after reviewing body camera video and other evidence. The case centered on a fast-moving encounter involving a Taser, a knife and state law.

Williams’ decision sent the matter to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation with no recommendation for criminal charges, a step that matters because the SBI relies on the district attorney to determine whether officers may have crossed the legal line. WLOS said the DA advised the agency not to file charges after weighing whether the force used in the confrontation met state law standards.

The review also comes against the backdrop of another Asheville shooting decision this spring. FOX Carolina reported that no charges would be filed against any Asheville police officer after a suspect identified in related coverage as Shane Tillman Kent was killed in an April officer-involved shooting, and that Williams found no violation of North Carolina law. Related coverage said officers were justified in using deadly force in that case, which left one man dead and an officer injured near a south Asheville strip mall on Hendersonville Road.

Those two decisions place a spotlight on how the Buncombe County District Attorney’s Office evaluates officer-involved shootings in Asheville. The office has also declined to refer an Asheville arrest to the SBI in a separate use-of-force case, adding another example of prosecutors choosing not to pursue criminal charges in police conduct reviews.

That pattern does not settle the larger questions for the family in the June case or for neighbors who want to know how close-range encounters are judged after the fact. The review of a Taser and knife confrontation raises the same issues that have shaped past local debates over police tactics, crisis response and whether officers had other options before force escalated.

For Asheville and the rest of Buncombe County, the immediate legal answer is now clear: Williams concluded the officers did not violate North Carolina law, and the SBI was advised not to file charges. What remains for the public is a fuller account of how the episode unfolded, how the evidence was weighed, and whether the agencies involved will explain enough to sustain confidence in the result.