University of North TexasShow MoreShow Less2of5Denton Mayor Chris Watts, left, and City Manager Todd Hileman, center, and Police Chief Frank Dixon, right, watch body camera footage during a news conference regarding a January officer involved shooting on Thursday, March 5, 2020 at the Denton Public Safety Training Center in Denton, Texas. A grand jury has declined to indict a North Texas police officer in the fatal shooting of Darius Tarver, a college student who had refused to drop a frying pan and a cleaver and then advanced toward them with the pan. The Denton County grand jury made the decision Thursday, March 18, 2021 about the officer, whose name police have not released. (Ryan Michalesko/The Dallas Morning News via AP)Ryan Michalesko/APShow MoreShow Less
3of54of5Attorney Lee Merritt, center, and the parents of Darius Tarver, Froncella Reece, left, and Kevin Tarver, speak to reporters at Merritt's home on Friday, March 6, 2020 in McKinney, Texas. Tarver, a UNT student was killed by Denton police in January. A grand jury on Thursday, March 18, 2021, has declined to indict a North Texas police officer in the fatal shooting of Darius Tarver, a college student who had refused to drop a frying pan and a cleaver and then advanced toward them with the pan. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News via AP)Ashley Landis/APShow MoreShow Less
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DENTON, Texas (AP) — A grand jury declined to indict a North Texas police officer in the fatal shooting of a college student who had refused to drop a frying pan and a cleaver and then advanced toward them with the pan.
The Denton County grand jury made the decision Thursday about the officer, whose name police have not released.
Darius Tarver, a 23-year-old University of North Texas student, was shot in January 2020 after residents of an apartment complex in Denton, located 40 miles (64 kilometers) northwest of Dallas, called 911 and said a man was banging on doors and breaking light fixtures.
Body camera footage showed that he was shocked twice with a stun gun before he was fatally shot.
Tarver’s family and their attorney have said he was in the midst of a mental health crisis after suffering a brain injury in an earlier car crash.
Denton police said in a written statement that an internal investigation of the shooting to determine whether departmental policies were followed will end within 30 days. The officer remains on administrative duty.
