Kajieme Powell

Kajieme Powell, 25, was shot and killed by St. Louis Police Officers Nicholas Shelton and Ellis Brown outside a convenience store on August 19, 2014 — ten days after the shooting of Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson. Officers responding to a report of shoplifting and a man carrying a knife found Powell, who witnesses said was in mental distress; a bystander's cellphone video showed police firing 12 shots roughly 23 seconds after arriving on scene, as Powell advanced holding what a later analysis confirmed was a knife. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce reviewed forensic evidence, witness accounts, and a 3-D spatial reconstruction before announcing in November 2015 that no charges would be filed, concluding a criminal violation could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. A use-of-force expert later hired by Powell's family disputed the analysis Joyce's office relied on. No one has ever been charged in Powell's death.

St. Louis, MO · St. Louis County

• 2014: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The shooting, the roughly 23-second timeframe from officers' arrival to gunfire, and Powell's death, per bystander cellphone video and the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's 40-page public report.
• 911 callers reported Powell had stolen items from the store and was carrying a knife, though no caller reported he appeared to be experiencing a mental health crisis.
• Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce's office reviewed forensic, video, 911, dispatch, and witness evidence along with a third-party 3-D spatial analysis before concluding in November 2015 that a criminal violation against either officer could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
• A separate force analysis commissioned in 2015 by a Washington University professor and shared with both prosecutors and the family's attorney disputed the circuit attorney's application of standard use-of-force distance calculations, arguing officers who already had weapons drawn needed less reaction time than the analysis assumed.
• Powell's mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and the two named officers in federal court.

• Whether Powell was experiencing a mental health crisis that officers could have de-escalated differently, as his family's attorney has argued, was not resolved by the circuit attorney's charging decision.
• The specific weight given to the disputed 3-D spatial and use-of-force analyses in the circuit attorney's final conclusion has been challenged by outside experts but not independently re-examined by any court.
• What internal disciplinary review, if any, the two officers faced separate from the criminal charging decision has not been made comprehensively public.

• STLPR (St. Louis Public Radio) — “Officers will not face charges in August 2014 shooting death of Kajieme Powell”
• St. Louis Magazine — “Police Officers Who Killed Kajieme Powell Won't Face Charges”
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch — “Kajieme Powell's mother files wrongful death suit against St. Louis police”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs