KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Five days after a deputy of his department shot and killed a woman during a traffic stop, Pettis County Sheriff Kevin Bond penned an open letter to the community about the unrest the incident caused.
Hannah Fizer, 25, was stopped by a Pettis County deputy around 10 p.m. Saturday night on U.S. 50 Highway after allegedly running a red light.
According to initial reports from authorities, Fizer told the deputy she was armed and threatened to shoot him.
Tuesday, independent investigators with the Missouri State Highway Patrol said they found no weapon inside Fizer’s vehicle.
Fizer was from Sedalia, where a handful of protesters gathered outside the Pettis County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday.
In an open letter posted Thursday, Bond addressed “the onslaught of shock, commercial media coverage, social media outcry, and raw emotion” which he says “is beginning to devolve into a dangerous situation for our community.”
Bond said “the criminal element among us” found the personal information of a deputy not involved in the shooting which they circulated and used to make threats against him and his family.
“The truth does not matter to the instigators, and unsuspecting people are being sucked into the hatred,” Bond wrote. “We are beginning to see people who are willing to resort to criminal behavior and taking advantage of this situation to turn it into social chaos.”
Bond said other deputies’ addresses have been revealed and he himself received an extortion email threatening the release of his home address if he did not comply with “unreasonable demands.”
Bond said he would not tolerate criminal behavior and asked his community, “Are you willing to allow Pettis County to become the test project for some Social Justice experiment for Rural America?”
Bond asked community members “to think rationally and not just with emotion.”
The sheriff encouraged discussion on the topic, writing that his door remains open and he wishes “to communicate with each other and live together peaceably.”
Bond expressed his condolences to Fizer’s family but otherwise did not address the case.
MSHP said earlier this week it is still working to find why the situation escalated to a shooting.
There is no dash or body camera footage from the incident.
The investigation could take up to a month to complete, MSHP said, at which point reports will be sent to the district attorney to determine if anyone will be charged.
The deputy who shot Fizer is on paid administrative leave, which is standard practice.
The deputy has been with Pettis County since 2007 with no previous investigations into their conduct.
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