Menu
Deputy shoots man who aimed rifle at him
An Elmore County Sheriff's Deputy shot and seriously wounded a local man, Bobby J. Slaughter, 39, who came at him with a firearm Tuesday morning.
At approximately 9:10 a.m. Deputy Bob Peace was dispatched to a trailer residence toward the end of Lott Road, just off Beamon Road north of Mountain Home, to check on Slaughter, who had been reported to be possibly suicidal.
The call, according to Idaho State Police, apparently came from the man's mental health provider who was concerned about him. Peace also was told that Slaughter had a history of psychological problems, that there were a large number of firearms in the residence and that he had "suicidal/homicidal" tendencies.
Peace arrived at the mobile home and made contact with Slaughter, attempting to talk to him and asking to be allowed to enter the home, but Slaughter denied him entry. Peace called for a key to the residence from the owner of the property so that he would not have to knock down the door, and routinely asked for backup.
Shortly afterward, according to ISP Detective Don Van Cleave, who was one of the investigators on the shooting case, Slaughter came out of the trailer carrying a rifle.
Peace tried to talk Slaughter into dropping the weapon, but Slaughter then pointed the rifle at Peace and the deputy sheriff immediately fired at least three times, striking Slaughter in the lower chest, arm and leg.
Chief Deputy Nick Schilz said that "our officers are trained to try and talk people out of things, but if someone points a gun at them, they are trained to shoot." The man did not fire at Peace. No one else was in the residence at the time of the incident.
"The officer acted automatically," Van Cleave said. "He did what he had to do.
"It's tough for these guys in small towns. They know everybody, they're out there to protect them, and they feel like they're contributing to their community," Van Cleave said. "And then, in a split second, they have to use deadly force."
Just last week, in an idle conversation with the editor of the Mountain Home News, Peace, known as the gentle giant of the sheriff's office, had pointed out with pride that he had never had to fire his weapon at anyone in all his long years as a law enforcement officer.
Although onlookers were kept away from the immediate scene, the victim could be heard alternately screaming in pain and screaming obscenities at law enforcement officers as ambulance crews stabilized him and prepared him for transport.
A LifeFlight helicopter landed in the horse pasture just across the gravel road from the residence and he was airlifted to St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center. He underwent several hours of surgery that afternoon and was listed Wednesday morning in critical condition.
Van Cleave said ISP detectives had not had a chance to interview the suspect and spent most of Tuesday acquiring evidence and interviewing anyone who had knowleged of the victim's state of mind or who may have seen the incident.
Peace, who was reported to be shaken up by the incident, was scheduled for a debriefing Wednesday afternoon. He spent most of Tuesday with two fellow officers, one of whom is his minister.
Van Cleave said it would probably be three or four weeks before a final report would be available and turned over to the prosecuting attorney to determine if any charges against Slaughter would be filed in connection with the incident. He indicated that the preliminary investigation showed the Peace acted appropriately. "That's actually a fairly short time frame for something like this. There's not a lot of complexity to the case."
Schilz had called Idaho State Police shortly after the shooting as part of standard procedure any time an officer is involved in a shooting.
Van Cleave said the Elmore County Sheriff's Office "has acted very professionally in this case. They wanted someone outside their own office to investigate the (officer involved) shooting, so they called us right away."