State's attorney says Jamestown police officer's use of deadly

Dec. 27—JAMESTOWN — The use of deadly force by a Jamestown police officer was justified when he shot and killed a man early Dec. 3 in the parking lot behind Fred’s Den, according to Stutsman County State’s Attorney Fritz Fremgen.

Fremgen released a memo to Troy Kelly, a special agent with the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and Scott Edinger, Jamestown chief of police, on his findings of the BCI’s investigation of the officer-involved shooting. Fremgen declined to pursue any charges against Sgt. Cory Beckman.

The North Dakota BCI investigated the officer-involved shooting. Those findings were forwarded to Fremgen for further review.

“Charges are unwarranted,” Fremgen wrote.

Beckman, a five-year veteran of the Jamestown Police Department, shot Devin Quinn Fontenot, 27, Jamestown, after he responded to a report of a man armed with a gun and a knife standing in the parking lot behind Fred’s Den, 113 1st Ave. S. Fontenot died from injuries he sustained from the gunfire.

As officers responded, a 911 caller reported a man was shooting at a building, firing many rounds. Maj. Justin Blinsky, Jamestown assistant chief of police, previously said the man later identified as Fontenot was still firing rounds in the parking lot when the first officer arrived on the scene.

Fontenot refused to comply with an order to drop his weapon, jeopardizing the safety of Beckman and others, Edinger previously said.

“The use of deadly force is reasonable where an officer has probable cause to believe that a suspect poses a threat of serious physical harm to the officer or others,” Fremgen wrote in the memo.

Fremgen wrote that it was “objectively reasonable for SGT Beckman to use deadly force to arrest Fontenot.”

“Discharging a firearm in a parking lot with the office and other citizens present is a severe crime that posed an immediate threat to the safety of SGT Beckman, the bystanders, and others,” Fremgen wrote. “Fontenot actively resisted arrest when he refused to disarm, yelled to the officer to drop his weapon, and fired more rounds after being told to drop his gun.”

Beckman is a member of the James Valley Special Operations Team, a K-9 handler and a Jamestown Police Department peer support team member. He remains on standard paid administrative leave.

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The memo says Beckman responded to a call for service to a report of a man who had a confrontation with a couple of individuals with the caller stating that the man, later identified as Fontenot, was “loading a weapon.” The Stutsman County Communications Center then told Jamestown police officers that there were multiple calls that gunshots were being fired.

Fred’s Den security video footage shows a man shouldering what appeared to be a rifle just before Beckman arrived to the scene, the memo says.

Beckman’s body camera video shows that he told Fontenot to drop what appeared to be an assault rifle and show his hands multiple times, the memo says. Beckman told Fontenot to show his hands six times before a gunshot was fired.

“The shot did not come from Beckman’s pistol,” the memo says.

Beckman tells Fontenot to drop his gun four times before two more gunshots were fired, forcing Beckman to move back into the cover of a brick wall, the memo says.

Beckman’s body camera video shows Fontenot telling Beckman to drop his weapon, the memo says.

Beckman transmits over the radio that Fontenot has a gun and “he’s shooting around” after he tells Fontenot to drop his gun four more times.

Beckman repositions himself on the southwest corner of the US Bank drive-thru with his body camera view to the northwest that shows Fontenot.

Beckman tells Fontenot to drop his weapon. Beckman then fires seven rounds, according to the memo.

The memo says a BCI agent interviewed a witness who said Fontenot pointed and attempted to fire the rifle at him but “each time the man’s weapon dry fired.”

Beckman told Kelly that he responded to a report of a “disgruntled” man who was kicked out of Fred’s Den and went to his vehicle and loaded his weapon, the memo says. Beckman said he had his handgun drawn when he approached U.S. Bank’s drive thru.

Beckman told Kelly that Fontenot was moving around between a truck and an SUV. Beckman said he heard what sounded like an assault rifle magazine hit the ground and could hear Fontenot “racking the weapon” (to pull back sharply and quickly release the cocking handle/slide of the firearm to eject a misfired round) to remedy a malfunction or jam, the memo says.

Beckman told the BCI agent that he gave commands to Fontenot to show his hands and drop the gun before Fontenot fired gunshots that didn’t appear to be fired toward Beckman, the memo says. Beckman told the BCI agent that he was unable to determine where the rounds were fired toward.

Beckman said Fontenot moved closer to him and was behind a pickup box holding an assault rifle, the memo says. Fontenot peeked up from behind a pickup box and Beckman said he put his pistol’s laser on Fontenot’s head but refrained from shooting him because there were two bystanders that could have been hit, the memo says.

Beckman said he eventually moved to get a better vantage point of Fontenot. Beckman said he put the pistol’s laser on Fontenot with the intent to give him one more command to drop his weapon. If the man did not drop the gun, Beckman told the BCI agent that he planned to shoot.

“Beckman conveyed he gave one more command to drop the gun, the man stood up holding the gun, and appeared to be raising the rifle in Beckman’s direction,” the memo says. “Then, Beckman fired about seven rounds at the man.”

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