Eau Claire (WQOW)- Items officers found inside a stolen truck shows what they were up against the night of the shooting earlier this month on Brackett Avenue. The evidence police found is alarming, but there's more WQOW learned about the night police shot and killed Christian Peterson.
"The shooting was justified," says Eau Claire County District Attorney Brian Wright.
On October 5th, Eau Claire Police Officer Jason Ruppert shot and killed Christian Peterson. Peterson was trying to car-jack the driver of a truck at gunpoint in the Culver's drive-thru on Brackett Avenue.
"Mr. Peterson had been verbally warned continuously," remembers Eau Claire Police Chief Jerry Matysik. "He knew that he was surrounded by police officers in the area. He kept moving. At no time did he look like he was going to be cooperative."
"Officer Ruppert was acting fully in accordance with the Eau Claire Police Department's policy on the use of deadly force," explains Wright.
This is how the incident unfolded: Peterson was the suspect in an Altoona home burglary in September. He was also a suspect in a number of other crimes in the Eau Claire and Wausau areas. On October 5th, he was spotted in a stolen truck. Officers followed him to the Perkins parking lot in Eau Claire and tried to pull him over. Peterson then rammed a squad car, which led to a high-speed chase. He later hit an SUV driven by a pregnant woman at the corner of Jefferson and South Farwell in Eau Claire. Peterson then stole a black Trailblazer from an Eau Claire homeowner at gunpoint. Another high-speed chase followed before the whole thing ended outside Culver's.
"Officer Ruppert fired 12 shots," Matysik reveals. "These things happen in a very quick fashion. In fact, the entire incident from the time he fired his weapon until he ended was four seconds. They are trained to continue to fire until the threat is stopped."
On Monday, police released a list of things found inside the stolen truck Peterson was driving: meth, three stolen handguns, stolen body armor, a police uniform jacket, written plans for robberies of area businesses, evidence tying Peterson to numerous other crimes, and keys to a stolen Lexus.
"I have no doubt after reviewing the reports that there would have been other persons killed or seriously injured had officers not responded in the manner that they did," Wright says.
Wright says Officer Ruppert and other officers who responded acted with extreme courage and bravery. He also singled out the man in the drive-thru and had a gun pointed at him by Peterson. That man was out for a bite to eat after his wife had given birth to their first child earlier that day.
Police believe Peterson was part of a large gun theft up to 60 firearms; 45 of which are still missing.
