Kevin Peterson Jr.

Kevin Peterson Jr., 21, a new father, was shot 34 times and killed by three Clark County, Washington Sheriff's deputies on October 29, 2020, after he ran from a drug sting in a bank parking lot near Vancouver. Clark County's sheriff publicly stated the day after the shooting that Peterson had fired at deputies; an independent multi-agency investigation concluded roughly two weeks later that he never fired his weapon at all, though he had one on him. Surveillance video showed Peterson was shot from behind while running away. His body was left in the parking lot for roughly eleven hours before being removed. An independent prosecutor from a neighboring county found the shooting justified in August 2021, concluding Peterson had “ample opportunity” to drop his gun and declining to charge any of the three deputies. The family's federal wrongful death lawsuit settled for $1.25 million in late 2024. No one has ever been charged in Peterson's death.

Vancouver, WA · Clark County

• 2020: 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 drug sting, the foot pursuit, and the shooting, per the Southwest Washington Independent Investigative Response Team's findings and Pierce County Prosecutor Mary Robnett's public declination letter.
• Deputies approached Peterson believing he was involved in selling prescription pills during an undercover operation; he ran when deputies moved to arrest him.
• Clark County Sheriff Chuck Atkins told reporters the day after the shooting that Peterson had fired at deputies; an independent investigation released roughly two weeks later concluded there was no evidence he had ever discharged his weapon, though a handgun was recovered near his body.
• Surveillance video released by investigators showed Peterson was shot from behind while running away from deputies, not while facing them.
• Witnesses and Peterson's family said his body remained in the U.S. Bank parking lot for roughly eleven to twelve hours after the shooting before being removed.
• Because Clark County prosecutors had a conflict of interest, the charging decision was referred to Pierce County Prosecutor Mary Robnett, who concluded in August 2021 that the deputies were legally justified, writing that Peterson had “ample opportunity” to drop the gun he was carrying and that officers were not required to let him fire first before defending themselves.
• Peterson's family, represented by civil rights attorney Ben Crump and the Herrmann Law Group, filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit alleging Clark County had a “policy, custom and established practice” of permitting deputies to use deadly force unlawfully; a federal judge approved a $1.25 million settlement of that suit in December 2024, with part of the funds set aside for Peterson's young daughter as a legal requirement given her status as a minor beneficiary.

• Whether Peterson's possession of a handgun, without evidence he ever fired or pointed it at deputies, justified 34 rounds fired by three officers as he ran away was the central dispute the family's civil case raised and was never tested at any criminal trial since none was brought.
• Why the sheriff's initial public statement that Peterson had fired at deputies was made before any investigation had concluded, and why it took roughly two weeks for that claim to be publicly corrected, has not been fully explained in available public reporting.
• The specific reasoning behind the roughly eleven-hour delay in removing Peterson's body from the scene has not been addressed in any official public accounting reviewed for this summary.

• OPB — “Prosecutors find fatal police shooting of Kevin Peterson Jr. justified”
• KATU — “VIDEO: New details released in case of Black man shot, killed by Clark Co. deputies”
• FOX 13 Seattle — “Federal judge approves $1.25M settlement in deputy killing of WA Black man”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs