No gun found in car of Sedalia woman killed by deputy, Missouri highway patrol says
Investigators found no weapon inside the car driven by a Sedalia woman who was shot and killed Saturday by a Pettis County deputy, the Missouri Highway Patrol said Tuesday.
“The search of the vehicle revealed no weapon,” said Sgt. Andy Bell, a spokesman for Troop A of the highway patrol.
The deputy, who has not been publicly identified, fatally shot 25-year-old Hannah Fizer during a traffic stop.
Investigators continued to process evidence in the shooting, Bell said. An autopsy on Fizer was planned for Wednesday.
In the meantime, the highway patrol was trying to track down any video of the shooting. The agency asked anyone with video or who witnessed the shooting to step forward.
On Sunday, Fizer’s relatives said they doubted the official narrative that Fizer told the deputy she was armed and threatened to shoot him. Several relatives said she never carried a firearm.
Her boyfriend, James Johnson, 22, said Fizer was not armed when she left their place shortly before the shooting.
“Where’s the gun?” he asked Sunday. “Where’s the gun at?”
Pettis County Sheriff Kevin Bond on Monday said the deputy was not equipped with a body camera and his vehicle did not have a dashboard camera.
The shooting
Fizer was driving to her job at an Eagle Stop convenience store when the deputy tried to pull her over about 10 p.m. for allegedly speeding and driving carelessly on Thompson Boulevard in Sedalia.
She ran a traffic light at West Broadway Boulevard and kept driving on U.S. Highway 50, according to the highway patrol, which is investigating the shooting. She pulled off near the Asian Buffet and Lemaire’s Cajun Catfish and Seafood House.
During the traffic stop, Fizer was “not compliant” and refused to identify herself, according to the highway patrol. Fizer told the deputy she was armed and threatened to shoot him, the patrol said, citing a preliminary investigation.
The incident “escalated” and the deputy shot Fizer, the patrol said. She died a short time later; the deputy was not injured.
Fizer was the only person in the car at the time of the shooting.
It remained unclear Tuesday why the situation escalated into a shooting.
The highway patrol called the Fizer investigation a priority. But it could be up to a month before all reports are complete and information is compiled to send to the district attorney, who will determine if anyone will be charged.
The deputy was placed on paid administrative leave pending the investigation, which is routine in police shootings, Bond said.
He has worked for Pettis County since 2007 and had no previous complaints against him, the sheriff said.
The shooting comes amid increased scrutiny of officer-involved killings since the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Floyd was a black man who died after a white police officer pressed a knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes as he pleaded for air and eventually stopped moving. Both Fizer and the deputy who shot her were white.
Anyone with information or video of the shooting is asked to contact the Missouri Highway Patrol’s Troop A Headquarters at 816-622-0800 and ask to speak with an investigator.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
