DENTON, Texas — A grand jury declined to indict a North Texas police officer in the fatal shooting of a college student who had refused to drop a frying pan and a cleaver and then advanced toward police with the pan.
The Denton County grand jury made the decision Thursday about the officer, whose name police have not released.
Darius Tarver, a 23-year-old University of North Texas student, was shot in January 2020 after residents of an apartment complex in Denton, located 40 miles northwest of Dallas, called 911 and said a man was banging on doors and breaking light fixtures.
Body camera footage showed that he was shocked twice with a stun gun before he was fatally shot.
Tarver’s family and their attorney have said he was in the midst of a mental health crisis after suffering a brain injury in an earlier car crash.
Denton police said in a written statement that an internal investigation of the shooting to determine whether departmental policies were followed will end within 30 days. The officer remains on administrative duty.
