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Fatal shooting of 26-year-old man by Boise police was justified, report says

The two Boise police officers who shot and killed a reportedly suicidal 26-year-old Boise man were justified in their actions, according to a report released by the Office of Police Accountability on Monday.

Zachary Snow was “threatening to jump off an overpass or building” on Oct. 27, when officers found him in a parking lot near the intersection of South Capitol Boulevard and West Myrtle Street.

Both Matt Jacobs, a 14-year veteran with the Boise Police Department, and Clifton Snodderly, a Boise officer for four years, were permitted to use deadly force, according to the report, because they “reasonably” believed in the existence of “imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury.”

A report by the city’s Office of Police Accountability and investigation by prosecutors occur when deadly or serious force is used by a Boise police officer. City officials clear the officers of wrongdoing if the officers are found to have been justified.

The report did not identify the officers and instead listed them as Officer No. 1 and Officer No. 2, so it is unclear which officer is Jacobs and which is Snodderly throughout the report. The report said Jacobs and Snodderly “reasonably believed that it was necessary to use deadly force” to prevent Officer No. 1 from harm or anyone else in the area from being hit with gunfire.

The officers’ actions were previously deemed “justified in their actions” by Gem County Prosecutor Erick B. Thomson in April. All shootings by Boise police officers are investigated and reviewed by a prosecutor.

City officials announced in March they would issue news releases when an investigation is complete after the Idaho Statesman published an article detailing how the office, under Director Jesus Jara’s direction, released six reports on Boise Police Department shootings without notifying the public.

Jara found the Boise Police Department, Internal Affairs and the Critical Incident Task Force investigations “were thorough, objective, and complete,” according to the report. He stated, in the report, there is no need to conduct an additional investigation.

Snow fatally shot with speaker in hand: police

Video footage released by the Boise Police Department in April showed Snow pull out a hard black object from his rear waistband and take “a shooter’s stance, imitating that he had a gun,” police said. Boise police later said the object in Snow’s hand was a portable speaker.

Snow’s mother, Melissa Walton, previously told the Statesman that she told dispatch and two officers prior to the shooting that Snow was unarmed and suicidal. Walton also told the Statesman that Snow would have made officers shoot him rather than face the prospect of returning to prison.

Walton said she thinks that police were “aggressive and ready to fire.”

Snow died Oct. 30 at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, according to multiple news releases.

A celebration of life is planned for Snow at 4 p.m. May 28 at 505 S. Capitol St., according to a post Walton shared with Statesman.