9 February 2023
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Five Topeka police officers will not face charges after shooting and killing a man who rushed them with a knife last year, Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay.
Kagay said on Tuesday that Kansas Bureau of Investigation officers found Topeka police justifiably believed that Taylor Lowery, 33, was a danger to them and the public during the confrontation on Oct. 13 in a Kwik Shop parking lot.
The officers shot Lowery 34 times after he rushed at them with a knife and socket wrench, Kagay said.
Lowery was under the influence of drugs when he was shot, Kagay said.
Officers first encountered Lowery after his sister reported he was trying to force his way into a bedroom where she was barricaded inside her house, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported.
He waved a knife at officers before driving to the Kwik Shop. He was trying to carjack a vehicle when they told him to put down his weapon, the report said.
He was shot by two officers after he rushed toward them with a knife. Lowery “went down” but got back up, grabbed a socket wrench and began moving toward an officer before three other police officers shot him, the report said.
No one else was hurt.