No charges filed in 2017 fatal officer-involved shooting in St. Paul

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) - The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office determined the use of force by St. Paul, Minnesota police officers was justified in the fatal officer-involved shooting of 28-year-old Phumee Lee in October 2017. 

No criminal charges will be filed against the officers involved, identified as Jordan Wild and Daniel Gleason. 

Shortly before 6 p.m. on Oct. 5, a group of officers including Wild and Gleason, responded to a shots fired call at a home on Earl Street. When they arrived, they found a domestic incident had taken place at the home. The officers removed five children from the home before locating Lee walking down the street nearby. 

In the video taken by Officer Wild’s body camera, the officers are heard ordering Lee to stop multiple times. Lee eventually stopped, turned around and began to walk towards the officers with his arms slightly raised, according to a memorandum from the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office. He is then seen quickly reaching into his front pants pocket and removing an object, which he points at the officers. 

Some of the officers took cover behind a tree, while others remained on the sidewalk. The officers are heard telling Lee to “drop it” and “show us your hands.”

Officer Wild fired six rounds at Lee from his 12-gauge shotgun and Gleason fired 10 from his AR-15 rifle. The body camera video shows a “flash emanate from the object in Lee’s right hand immediately before he falls down on the street.” A .38 caliber Taurus revolver was later recovered from the scene. 

Lee was pronounced dead at the scene. 

Officer Gleason was a 10-year veteran of the force at the time of the shooting, while Wild had been with the department for three years.