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The Gem County Prosecutor’s Office won’t pursue charges against eight of the officers involved in two of last year’s police shootings in Boise and Garden City, including the six officers who shot and killed a man in the North End.

Gem County Prosecutor Erick Thomson said all Boise police officers who shot 28-year-old Macey Juker “were justified in their actions,” according to a Feb. 21 letter obtained by the Idaho Statesman this week. The letter was sent to the Garden City Police Department, which investigated the shooting as a part of the Critical Incident Task Force.

“It is this office’s opinion that no criminal charges should be filed,” Thomson wrote in the letter, which he provided to the Statesman upon request.

Boise officers responded to the 700 block of North 20th Street in July after receiving reports a man, later identified as Juker, was walking around firing an assault rifle, according to the Boise Police Department. The department said officers were “immediately engaged in gunfire,” prompting six officers to shoot at Juker.

The officers who fired at Juker were identified by the Boise Police Department: Sgts. Jason Pietrzak and Kirk Rush and officers Ryan Pollard, Chase Fiddler, Dominic Rogers and Craig Sousa.

Thomson also cleared the two Garden City officers who fired their guns at two teenagers after responding to reports of gunshots at a home in August, according to a letter he sent to the Boise Police Department, which oversaw the outside investigation. Nobody was injured in the shooting, and the letter identified the officers who fired their weapons as Holland Ahearn and Leon Dennis.

The two teenagers, an 18-year-old and 16-year-old, were arrested following the shooting. The 16-year-old, whose name hasn’t been disclosed, was charged as an adult with attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault after prosecutors said he shot at someone walking down the street, according to prior reporting.

The older teen who was involved, now 19, pleaded guilty to the unlawful discharge of a weapon, court records showed. Prosecutors said he admitted to firing up to 10 rounds during the shootout but stopped when he realized it was police, the Statesman previously reported.

Ahearn and Dennis were cleared of any wrongdoing in December, the letter said. Garden City Police Chief Cory Stambaugh declined to release any information, including the officers’ names and the investigative documents, until the teens’ criminal cases were closed.

“Once that is done, I will be hosting a press conference to highlight the incredible job our officers did,” Stambaugh said in an email to the Statesman.

Juker showed ‘signs of mental illness’

Thompson’s letter provided a bit more clarity on Juker’s shooting.

Several residents previously told the Statesman they saw Juker walking down 19th Street with a firearm. Keith Cox, who lives on Washington Street in Boise, told the Statesman that after he saw Juker carrying what he thought was an AK-47, he called 911 and hid in the bathroom with his wife.

Juker also called 911 and said he had an assault rifle, according to the letter.

Thomson said Juker was “showing signs of mental illness,” and that dispatch could hear shots being fired over the phone. He was one of at least seven people killed by Treasure Valley officers since 2021 who were suffering from a mental health illness.

READ MORE: How do police respond to a mental health crisis in the Boise area? It varies by agency.

After officers found Juker, he initially put down his weapon and complied with law enforcement, Thomson wrote in his letter. But Juker retrieved his gun, ran from officers and then turned around and aimed the rifle at officers, Thomson said.

That’s when both the officers and Juker “opened fire,” according to the letter.

Juker was struck by a bullet and fell to the ground, Thomson said, adding that Juker then raised his rifle and fired at the officers again. The officers fired back and killed Juker.

He died at the scene from “multiple gunshot wounds,” according to the Ada County Coroner’s Office.

Payton Wasson investigation completed

The Ada County Prosecutor’s Office told the Statesman that two other outside investigations, including the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Payton Wasson, have been completed, but the findings haven’t yet been shared with the public or the Statesman.

Boise police said they were investigating Wasson along with another man on suspicion of gang activity in June. Officer Chance Feldner shot and killed Wasson after police said Wasson disregarded officers’ commands to stop and ran armed with a gun toward Idaho Street in downtown Boise. Witnesses have disputed the police department’s narrative and said Wasson didn’t have a gun.

The shooting has prompted at least two protests in the city, with critics alleging police misconduct and asking the department to release body-camera footage of the shooting.

The second completed investigation involves the fatal shooting of Jared Decker, who was walking on Interstate 84 in April. The 40-year-old was shot and killed by two unidentified Ada County sheriff’s deputies after he stabbed another deputy, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Patrick Orr, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office, didn’t respond to a question from the Statesman about the investigation’s findings.

With any police shooting in Idaho, an outside law enforcement agency is required to investigate and forwards any investigative materials, like reports and body-camera footage, to the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office, who will then send it to an outside prosecutor.

The prosecutor then reviews the materials and sends a letter to the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office on whether the officer was justified in using deadly force. The findings get sent back to the outside investigating agency and to the agency that was involved in the shooting.

In the case of Wasson, the investigation was handed off to Gooding County Prosecutor Trevor Misseldine. Attempts to obtain a copy of Misseldine’s letter about his findings were unsuccessful; both Misseldine and the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office told the Statesman to contact different agencies.

Haley Williams, a spokesperson for the Boise Police Department, didn’t respond when asked about the findings for Wasson’s shooting. She said the investigative documents for both cases will be publicized within the next few weeks.

The Boise Police Department created a webpage earlier this year where the investigative reports and partial body-camera footage would be released once the investigation was completed. The agency said it will also release the entire unredacted footage at no cost upon request through the public records request process.

“We plan to release as much information as we can about each incident all at once as we have done in the past,” Williams said.