Evidence Released In Parking Lot Shootout

[fultonCoShooter]

http://www.wlky.com/news/15105352/detail.html

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Police called the investigation “transparent.” On Monday, the evidence in the case involving the shooting of Darren Pickerill by former Jeffersontown police Officer Richard Koenig was released.

Detectives interviewed more than three dozen people, including officers on the scene.

The hundreds of pages of documents describe what various witnesses, including Koenig, saw from many different angles during the incident on June 3, 2007.
The materials also include pictures of Pickerill and his fiancée Toby Kubas inside Kroger just 15 minutes before he was shot. Koenig's Jeep is seen on camera at a filling station. He told police he was on his way to a firing range.

Koenig also told detectives Pickerill ran a stop sign and blocked him from moving.

"I asked him multiple times to pull forward or back up or something, so I could leave and he absolutely refused and then kind of smirked and then I saw his right hand move back in what I would best describe as a fluent [sic] movement, like his was reaching for some kind of weapon," Koenig told officers.

Koenig's wife Barbara told investigators Pickerill was cursing at her husband.

"He was threatening Rick from the very beginning; it was like he wanted a fight before the whole thing even started,” she told officers. “He was looking for a fight."

Many of the dozens of people interviewed at the scene told stories about what happened after the gunshots. But one motorist said the driver of the Humvee, Pickerill, made a slight turn toward the console. She said they kept driving and a couple of seconds later they heard four pops.

Police say Koenig fired eight shots, six of which hit Pickerill.

Koenig says he was left with no other choice.

"I was in imminent fear of my life and my wife's life," he told police. "Yes, ‘cause the man, the man was making every attempt he could to shoot me."

Police said witnesses came to them to document behavior that may have foreshadowed the incident.

According to police, one witness said that he had seen Pickerill pull his handgun while driving and point it toward the door while laughing, but he stated he hasn't actually seen him point the gun at anyone.

Another witness told officers that Pickerill liked to intimidate people and has chased people down Bardstown Road if they cut him off in traffic.

“The Jeffersontown Police Department did everything we could to do it right,” said Jeffersontown Police Chief Rick Sanders. “We've not tried to hide, conceal or tamper with any evidence. We've tried to present the best case we could.”

[KeithPA]

Does Kentucky have "stand your ground"?