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D.A. clears deputies in nonfatal shooting of drunk man wielding shotgun

By Lightning Reports, Published: March 15, 2023

Henderson County sheriff's deputies were justified when they opened fire on an intoxicated man who pointed a shotgun at them and shouted “shoot me mother f*****s," District Attorney Andrew Murray announced on Wednesday.

Murray released a letter he sent to the SBI's special agent in charge for Western North Carolina clearing the deputies in the non-fatal shooting of Jeromy Rand Swaringen on Aug. 29. A thorough investigation by SBI agent John Radford clearly showed that the deputies reasonably fired at Swaringen when they responded to a domestic disturbance call and report of a gunshot at 2821 Howard Gap Road the night of Aug. 29, Murray said in a letter he sent Tuesday to Chuck Vines of the SBI.

"It is justified under North Carolina law for an officer or any other person to use deadly force if he/she in fact believed that he/she or another person was in imminent danger of great bodily harm or death from the actions of the person who was shot, and this belief is reasonable," said Murray, the top prosecutor for Henderson, Polk and Transylvania counties. "Given the facts of this matter, there is no doubt that each of the deputies that discharged their weapons was in reasonable fear of great bodily injury or death to themselves and/or their colleagues."

Murray commended Special Agent Radford for his "very thorough, professional, and comprehensive investigation and accompanying report."

"There was literally no rock left unturned in this investigation," he said.

Responding to the 911 call at 9:13 p.m., deputies Benson Lawter, Jeremy Warren, Lance Cpl. Stephen Darnell and Sgt. Carlos Montoya "developed a plan to spread out and approach by foot for safety purposes" because all the lights were out in the trailer. "When the deputies were close to the residence and had surrounded it, they loudly announced their presence as sheriff deputies while knocking on the outside screen door from a ground position below the elevated door," Murray wrote in recounting the SBI investigation. "At this time, deputies heard a female voice say, 'no, put it down, put it down' followed by a female and male occupant exiting the trailer with the male holding a shotgun."

Deputies scrambled for cover while issuing commands for Swaringen to drop the shotgun. His girlfriend, Ashley Whitaker, came out and approach deputies before Swaringen re-emerged from the trailer, still holding the shotgun.

"Deputies immediately began screaming commands for Swaringen to drop the weapon," Murray said. One deputy's body cam "picked up Swaringen saying, 'shoot me mother f*****s.' Swaringen then proceeded to point the gun where one of the deputies was positioned, at which time each of the four deputies shot multiple rounds at Swaringen," striking him once in the upper right arm.

Once deputies determined Swaringen was no longer a threat, they entered the residence, checked on Whitaker's 16-year-old autistic son — found to be sitting on his bed unharmed — and rendered first aid to Swaringen. After Henderson County Emergency Medical Services treated him at the scene, Swaringen was transported to Mission Hospital, where he was treated for the non-life-threatening gunshot wound and released.

"It is noteworthy that during Swaringen’s transport to the hospital, he made a spontaneous remark to attending EMS personnel that he was not upset at the deputies shooting him," Murray wrote, adding that Swaringen said later that he wished the gunshot had hit him in the head since "that was what he had intended all along."

"Follow-up interviews with several of Swaringen’s family members and friends revealed that Swaringen had been heavily drinking liquor for several hours prior to the incident," Murray wrote, and Swaringen himself "recalled drinking heavily and being so intoxicated when he was shot that he could not really recall anything clearly about the night." His "gross impairment" was confirmed by a hospital toxicology report showing a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the limit to drive in North Carolina. "Despite his foggy memory, Swaringen stated that he remembers holding the shotgun and pointing it toward some light he saw and then being shot," Murray said, noting that Swaringen told an SBI agent "that he would like to apologize to the officers involved."

It was noteworthy, too, Murray said, that "Whitaker tells the agents that she did not blame law enforcement for shooting Swaringen and that he gave them no choice."

"After a thorough review of all the available evidence in this matter," the prosecutor said, "including interview recordings of all of the involved witnesses and immediate responders, hospital notes, deputy notes, investigator notes, body cam recordings and crime scene photos and sketches, I am convinced that each involved deputy was justified in discharging their weapon in an attempt to neutralize a clear and present lethal threat to their lives and the lives of their fellow deputies on-scene."

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