More previously undisclosed evidence discovered in shooting of Overland Park teenager
Update: This story has been updated with comment Monday from a spokesman for the City of Overland Park.
Four months after Overland Park released long-awaited findings from the controversial 2018 fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old, additional evidence has been discovered that had not been previously disclosed.
Sheila Albers, the mother of the slain teenager John Albers, has shared with The Star a digital reconstruction of the shooting scene she obtained through a public records request. And, considering the omissions, she again challenged the integrity of the investigation and the decision to clear the officer who shot at her son 13 times.
“It is more sloppy, incompetent work,” said Sheila Albers, who has long pushed for the case to be reopened.
The video reconstruction is a digital map of the shooting scene collected by investigators three years ago. It shows in a one-minute clip the placement of houses, cars, evidence markers and crime scene tape.
Far more revealing details have already been shown through video evidence and other reports. But Sheila Albers said Friday the information should have been part of the first disclosure.
In response to legal actions, Overland Park in April released photographs, documents and videos compiled by Johnson County’s Officer Involved Shooting Investigation Team, or OISIT. City officials said the information was aimed at providing transparency and rebuilding community trust. The evidence represented a “complete and thorough investigation,” city officials said at the time.
In an emailed statement Monday, Sean Reilly, a spokesman for the City of Overland Park, said any questions about the importance of the drone footage as it relates to a charging decision should be directed to the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office.
“The drone footage was not included in the copy of OISIT report that was provided to the City by the OISIT team,” Reilly wrote. “However, that footage is referenced on pages 424 and 462 of the OISIT report. No Overland Park personnel participated in the OISIT investigation except as witnesses and, therefore, we cannot comment on any decisions about what did or did not go into the OISIT report.
“On or about March 30, 2018, long after the OISIT team had concluded its investigation and transmitted the OISIT report to the City and District Attorney Steve Howe announced his charging decision, the Olathe Police Department transferred the footage to the Overland Park Police Department as part of evidence gathered during the OISIT investigation.”
The Johnson County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
Details released
In May, The Star obtained through an open records request a ballistics report that had not previously been shared. And in June, the city released hundreds of more still images from previously released dash camera videos, saying they had been found later in an unlabeled folder.
John Albers was shot by former Overland Park police officer Clayton Jenison in January 2018 . Police had been called to the Albers home for a welfare check after 911 calls were made saying Albers was trying to kill himself.
Jenison fired 13 shots, striking Albers six times as the teen backed out of the driveway.
Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe cleared Jenison of any wrongdoing one month later, saying the shooting was a justified use of force under Kansas law.
Court battles have led to the release of information over the past three-and-a-half years.
The Star sued Overland Park, seeking the severance agreement offered to Jension. That agreement allowed Jenison to quietly resign and collect $70,000 in March 2018, two months after the shooting. Channel 41 sued the city for the full investigative case file, prompting the initial disclosure in April.
Experts who have reviewed the file at The Star’s request said it appeared detectives never considered that the shooting might not be justified. Those experts also criticized the report for focusing on Albers instead of Jenison.
Among them was Paul Morrison, the former Johnson County District Attorney, now a lawyer in private practice, who has said the case should be reopened.
“I’m really comfortable saying that that’s not a good shoot,” Morrison previously told The Star. “Whether it rises to the level of criminal or not, I don’t know. But from what I’ve seen, it’s not clean.”
This story was originally published August 28, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
