KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Independence, Missouri, officers who shot and killed a 39-year-old man last year may have mistaken a pill bottle hidden in the victim’s waistband for a pistol, according to Missouri State Highway Patrol investigation transcripts released by the family’s attorney.
The incident has come under scrutiny in recent weeks as video footage of the shooting shared by the attorneys shows Independence police struggling to determine whether Tyrea Pryor, 39, was reaching for a weapon before his death.
Thursday, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said in a statement that “it was indisputable Pryor did not have a gun in his hand,” but, due to the “reasonable belief” that a threat was being posed to police, the case will not be criminally prosecuted.
