Sheriff names man shot and killed by officer, says man had a BB gun

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office has released more information, including images, one day after a Goddard police officer shot a suspect who he said had a gun.

Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter said the suspect’s wife tried to warn officials that her husband planned to die and had a .40-caliber handgun. But Easter said her call came too late, and the gun turned out to be a BB gun.

The shooting happened at 183rd Street West and 63rd Street South after the officer tried to pull a driver over for a traffic violation Monday morning.

Sheriff Easter said the man the officer shot and killed was 39-year-old Michael James Trask, from the Lake Afton area.

Investigators have video from three different cameras. The sheriff’s office will not release it because the investigation is continuing, and then the video will go to the district attorney’s office.

However, the sheriff did release a couple of images from the video, showing a suspect with a handgun walking toward a police car and the police officer:

Easter said it all happened very fast. He gave this timeline based on time stamps from the different police cameras that recorded it:

9:44:10 a.m. — Goddard officer notifies dispatch of a traffic stop at 31st South and 199th West.

9:44:33 a.m. — Officer tells dispatch he is pursuing the vehicle headed south on 199th West.

9:45:33 a.m. — Officer advises dispatch he is ending the pursuit due to speeds but will follow suspect at a slower speed.

9:47:55 a.m. — Officer says the vehicle turned east onto 63rd South, and the officer tries again to stop the vehicle by using his lights and siren.

9:48:57 a.m. — Officer advises dispatch the driver flashed a gun at him.

9:49:14 a.m. — Officer tells dispatch the vehicle has stopped at 183rd St. West.

The suspect remained in his truck for 37 seconds.

Sheriff says the officer gave six loud commands for the suspect to show his hands and place them outside the window. The suspect did not comply.

After 37 seconds, the suspect gets out of the truck and begins to walk toward the officer for 26 seconds.

The sheriff says the officer gives nine more commands for the suspect to drop the gun, put his hands up, and stop coming toward him.

9:50:30 a.m. — The officer notifies dispatch that shots have been fired.

9:51 a.m. — Dispatch gets a call from a woman saying she is the suspect’s wife.

“She advised that her husband is in a high-speed chase, and the suspect advised that he is probably going to be dead,” the sheriff said of the 911 call. “The call noted that the suspect is suicidal and armed with a loaded .40-caliber handgun.”

“Subsequently, we’ve learned that there’s been some family issues that have been taking place within his family for the last couple of weeks,” Easter said. “We’re looking at what those actual issues were and if they led to this incident.”

When the suspect stopped at the intersection, the police officer got out of his patrol vehicle and pointed his handgun at the truck.

“The officer stopped about 173 feet behind that vehicle because of what he had observed before, meaning the handgun that was being brandished by the suspect in the car chase,” Easter said.

The sheriff said the suspect never appeared to say anything, at least that was loud enough to be picked up on the recordings. But he said the officer is heard giving commands to the suspect. Then the suspect got out of the truck.

“As the suspect began to walk towards the officer, (the officer) gave more commands and then retreated to the back end of his patrol vehicle on the passenger-hand side where he then gave numerous commands for him to stop, to put the gun down and to show him his hands,” Easter said.

The sheriff said the video showed Trask walking like he was on a mission.

“He’s walking somewhat briskly and is just, keeps on walking no matter what command is given to him.”

“The suspect walked approximately 156 feet back to where the officer was, and at approximately 10 yards, prior to him reaching where the officer was, that’s when (the officer) fired the shots. He fired a total of eight shots,” Easter said.

The sheriff said that after the individual was handcuffed and EMS arrived to provide aid, investigators found the suspect’s gun in the ditch. It was a BB gun.

Trask died at the scene.

A reporter asked the sheriff if the man’s death could be considered suicide by cop.

“You have to remember that when the wife called in, that was after this incident took place, about a minute and 40 seconds after the shooting took place, so we had no idea about any of this information until after the incident,” Easter said. “The cliche of suicide by cop, when you look that up, when an individual wants to die at the hands of a cop — does that fit this criteria? It does appear to fit this criteria.”

He said investigators were searching the suspect’s truck Tuesday. He did not have details about what was inside.

Easter also said he was not aware of any previous run-ins between Trask and law enforcement.

Goddard Police Chief Lance Beagley said the officer is doing as well as can be expected.

“Obviously, it’s affecting him and his family and will for years,” he said.

The officer has been with the Goddard Police Department for 12 years. He remains on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.