Subject of Wednesday police shooting in downtown Boise dies; man not identified
A man police shot Wednesday evening in downtown Boise has died, according to Boise Police. After being hospitalized on Wednesday evening with life-threatening injuries, the man died early Saturday morning, according to a news release. Police say that officers were informed of a “suicidal subject” who was “threatening to jump off an overpass or building” just after 5 p.m. Wednesday, a Boise Police Department news release said. After conducting a widespread search for the man in the downtown area, he was found at 5:30 p.m. near the intersection of South Capitol Boulevard and West Myrtle Street, police said.
According to the Wednesday release, the subject was known to at least some of the responding officers. After attempting to contact the man, police said that two officers “perceived a threat” and shot him. In a follow-up Friday release, police called it a “deadly threat.”
The two officers involved – Matt Jacobs, a 14-year veteran with BPD, and Clifton Snodderly, a four-year BPD veteran – are now on paid administrative leave, which is standard protocol. Jacobs has been involved in at least one other fatal police shooting in 2012 when he shot and killed a Boise man armed with a gun.
That man was also reported to be suicidal. Jacobs was found to have followed policy in a review by a community ombudsman. Police have released few details about the incident, including whether the subject had a weapon. Police have said that he had a criminal history. The man has also not yet been publicly identified, pending notification of next of kin.
There have been at least 10 fatal police-involved shootings in Idaho this year, which is three fewer than the record over the last two decades, which was set in 2018. Wednesday’s shooting was the eighth shooting involving police in the Treasure Valley in 2021.
As is standard policy, the Ada County Critical Incident Task Force, led by the Garden City Police Department, is investigating the fatal shooting. The city of Boise Office of Police Accountability is conducting its own investigation, and the police department will conduct a separate review.