SEDGWICK COUNTY —A Wichita Police Department (WPD) officer involved in the fatal shooting of Andrew Finch on Dec. 28 was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing Thursday by District Attorney Marc Bennett.
Bennett said there was reasonable concern at the time Andrew Finch may have been armed with a weapon.
The unarmed 28-year-old Wichita man was shot by police responding to a California man’s hoax call about a killing and kidnapping at Finch’s home.
Police have said Finch was told to keep his hands raised, but reached toward his waistline. An officer standing across the street shot him when he reached his hands up suddenly.
A media release from police following the DA’s announcement stated, “This incident has weighed on the hearts of the Wichita Police Department and community. Chief Gordon Ramsay and the WPD continue to extend sympathy to the Finch family and the officers involved.”
The shooting drew national attention to a practice called “swatting,” in which a person makes up a false report to get responders to descend on an address.
Wichita police are following these next steps regarding the incident, according to the media release.
An internal investigation will be conducted to determine if policies and training were followed, review of training and policies to include any recommendations, administrative review of the findings and internal actions taken based on the findings, Citizens Review Board (CRB) reviews the findings and provides policy and training recommendations, administrative review of CRB recommendations.
Police Chief Ramsay and WPD remain committed to completing an objective evaluation of this incident based upon the facts.
WPD officials work to stay abreast of developments in police policies and practices and strive to provide effective law enforcement to the community. WPD has implemented the deployment of body cameras to assist in documenting police actions, continues to explore and deploy nonlethal alternatives to lethal force and to adhere to other developments in law enforcement practices. The WPD recognizes the concern this tragedy has caused and is committed to do everything it can to prevent an incident like this from occurring again.
—The Associated Press contributed to this report.