BCA: Police fatally shot woman in North Branch after she didn’t respond to orders to drop gun

State investigators say a woman with a gun was fatally shot by police in North Branch, Minn., last week after she did not acknowledge orders to drop the weapon.

Jamie Ann Crabtree, 36, was killed on the night of June 27 during an encounter with officers in a field near her home in the 38900 block of 3rd Avenue. Police said Crabtree was armed with a handgun, intoxicated and suicidal when officers confronted her.

The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), which is leading the investigation into the shooting, released a preliminary rundown Wednesday of the encounter:

Officers responded to a report of a woman, later identified as Crabtree, walking down the street with a bottle of alcohol and a gun in a case. The officers ordered her to drop the gun, which she did not acknowledge.

Officer Kyle Miller deployed pepper ball rounds. Then, at the time Crabtree can be seen on squad car camera video “appearing to point an object at the officers,” officer Duane Southworth shot her multiple times with his rifle, the agency synopsis read.

Nicholas Williams, Crabtree’s husband, told the Star Tribune two days after the shooting that she was on her cellphone at the time she was shot. He added that she would suffer seizures when she drank and had been in therapy for mental illness.

BCA said its crime scene personnel recovered a handgun, a gun case and rifle cartridge casings at the scene.

There is officer-worn body camera and squad car camera video that captured portions of the incident. BCA agents are reviewing the footage as part of their investigation.

Once the investigation is complete, the BCA will present its findings without a charging recommendation for review by the Washington County Attorney’s Office, which is stepping on for the Chisago County Attorney’s Office in order to avoid an apparent conflict of interest.

Both officers are on standard critical incident leave. Miller has 1½ years of law enforcement experience. Southworth has two years of law enforcement experience.

Since 2000, police in Minnesota have killed at least 240 people, including nine this year and 11 in the past 11 months, according to a Star Tribune database.