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Police submit findings from investigation into June officer shooting to prosecutor’s office for review

A sign remembering Bjorn Manycolors, who was shot and killed by deputies June 4, is propped up at a candlelight vigil for Manycolors on June 10 at North Dyer Road and East Mallon Avenue, near where Manycolors was shot. (Garrett Cabeza / The Spokesman-Review)
By Garrett Cabeza garrettc@spokesman.com(509) 459-5135
A sign remembering Bjorn Manycolors, who was shot and killed by deputies June 4, is propped up at a candlelight vigil for Manycolors on June 10 at North Dyer Road and East Mallon Avenue, near where Manycolors was shot. (Garrett Cabeza / The Spokesman-Review)

The Spokane Independent Investigative Response team finished its investigation into an officer shooting that left 30-year-old Bjorn Manycolors dead this past spring in Spokane Valley.

Spokane police, the managing agency for the investigation, submitted its investigative findings to the Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office, which will decide whether deputies Brent Miller and Matthew Peterson acted lawfully in the June 4 shooting in the 900 block of North Dyer Road, according to a SIIR news release Tuesday.

The deputies contacted Manycolors walking in the area around 12:10 a.m. after searching for a person with an arrest warrant, according to a SIIR release in June.

Cpl. Nick Briggs, spokesman for Spokane police, said in June that Manycolors had an arrest warrant.

Body cameras from Miller and Peterson showed Manycolors was stopped for walking in an area without sidewalks and not walking against traffic, according to search warrant documents filed in June in Spokane County Superior Court.

Briggs said the exact reason for the stop would have to come out in the investigation.

After speaking with Manycolors for over a minute, the deputies tried to detain him, according to the June release.

Manycolors produced a concealed handgun and fired multiple times at the deputies from close range, the June release said. Manycolors broke free of the deputies’ grasp and started to run while firing additional rounds toward them, according to investigators.

Both deputies returned fire, striking and killing Manycolors, according to the release.

Investigators found a silver revolver near Manycolors’ body, according to documents.

Miller and Peterson were placed on administrative leave after the shooting, which is standard procedure. Neither deputy was struck by gunfire.

The prosecutor’s office will release its legal determination later, Tuesday’s release said.