Omari Cryer

Omari Cryer, 25, a father, was shot twice and killed by a deputy U.S. Marshal on May 20, 2022, in Louisville's Chickasaw neighborhood while a federal task force attempted to serve a domestic violence arrest warrant. Body camera video showed Cryer running from officers, hopping a fence, and pulling a handgun from his waistband before falling; a marshal fired two rounds, striking him in the front. No other officer discharged a weapon. Nearly a year later, Cryer's family said the Jefferson County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office told them it did not have enough evidence to indict anyone in his death. In 2023, a complaint to Louisville's Office of Inspector General alleged the arrest warrant used to justify the operation itself contained false statements; LMPD's chief publicly denied that allegation. No one has ever been charged in Cryer's death, and the identity of the marshal who fired has never been publicly released.

Louisville, KY · Jefferson County

• 2022: 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 warrant service, the foot chase, and the shooting, per LMPD body camera footage released publicly and the Jefferson County Coroner's Office.
• Cryer was wanted on a state arrest warrant alleging domestic violence, strangulation, terroristic threatening, and assault against a woman with whom he had a child.
• Body camera footage showed Cryer running, hopping a chain-link fence, and pulling a handgun from his waistband as he fell; a deputy U.S. Marshal fired two rounds, striking him in the front. No other officer at the scene fired a weapon.
• The Jefferson County Coroner's Office ruled the cause and manner of death “gunshot wounds/homicide.”
• LMPD's Public Integrity Unit investigated the shooting at the request of the U.S. Marshals Service; as of March 2023, Cryer's family said the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office told them it lacked sufficient evidence to indict anyone.
• A complaint filed with Louisville's Office of Inspector General in 2023 alleged the state arrest warrant used to justify the operation contained false statements, and separately alleged abuse of police authority and excessive force; LMPD Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel publicly stated the involved officers had not lied.
• The identity of the specific deputy U.S. Marshal who fired the fatal shots has never been publicly released.

• Whether Cryer pointed or aimed the recovered handgun at pursuing officers, as opposed to simply holding it while running and falling, was disputed by his family's attorney, who said body camera footage showed he “never turned, he never pointed that weapon,” and was never resolved by any criminal proceeding since none was brought.
• The specific findings of the Office of Inspector General's investigation into whether the underlying arrest warrant contained false statements have not been made comprehensively public.
• Why the identity of the marshal who fired the fatal shots has never been publicly disclosed, unlike the practice for LMPD officers in comparable local shootings, has not been explained.

• Louisville Public Media (LPM) — “Experts weigh in on video evidence in shooting of Omari Cryer”
• WAVE 3 News — “Family still looking for answers nearly 1 year after Omari Cryer was shot, killed by US Marshal”
• WHAS11 — “'Those officers didn't lie': LMPD chief denies allegations of misconduct leading to 2022 death”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs