BOWLUS, Minn. — A man in the driver's seat was holding a gun when law enforcement shot and killed him during a traffic stop in April of 2022 in Bowlus, Minnesota, according to recently released body-worn camera footage from the incident.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) released the body-cam footage as well as additional documents and audio files investigators gathered during the investigation, which ultimately found the law enforcement officials' actions to be "necessary to protect their own lives, as well as the lives of their fellow officers," according to Morrison County Attorney Brian Middendorf.
One of the videos released is from trooper Megan Boser with the Minnesota State Patrol, who was one of two law enforcement officials to fire their weapon. The footage shows the man, later identified as 59-year-old Charles Francis Bangs of Fergus Falls, holding a handgun while sitting in the driver's side seat.
According to a press release from the BCA, members of the West Central Drug Task force were attempting a traffic stop at around 3 p.m. on Apr. 28, 2022, when Trooper Boser and Otter Tail County Sheriff's deputy Dale Haberer fired their weapons.
In Boser's body-cam footage, multiple law enforcement officials can be heard yelling, "show me your hands," while their guns are drawn. Bangs can be seen holding a handgun when one of the law enforcement officials can be heard saying, "He's got a gun. He's got a gun. Driver's side."
About three seconds passed from the time officers learned the man had a gun to the first shots that were fired. It's unclear if the gun was pointed at law enforcement when the shots were fired.
The footage shows Boser firing three shots at the driver's side window before several other shots can be heard in the background. According to the BCA's case report, Haberer then fired his gun six times through the front windshield at the driver's side seat. In a press release, the BCA said Bangs died at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds, and another man, 51-year-old Michael Gene Johnson of Fergus Falls, was injured. The BCA said Johnson was sitting in the front passenger's seat when he was shot in the left shoulder. Johnson's injury was non-life threatening. A third person was also in the vehicle and was uninjured.
According to the case report, Boser and an officer with the drug task force were following the vehicle as part of a "narcotics investigation." They were following the vehicle into Bowlus, where they said they wanted to make a stop on a road that wasn't busy. During the stop, Boser indicated that the vehicle appeared like it might take off, so additional law enforcement officials surrounded the vehicle before Boser exited her squad with her gun drawn.
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