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WSU officer who shot at student acted in ‘good faith’ during knife threat, prosecutor finds

By Alexandra Duggan, The Spokesman-Review
Published: January 22, 2025, 7:43am

SPOKANE — A Whitman County prosecutor on Tuesday determined an officer who shot at a Washington State University student holding a knife in a campus dormitory last year acted in good faith.

WSU Police Officer Dillon Tiedeman Mueller and his sergeant responded to the Global Scholars Hall dorm after 20-year-old student John Bazan called 911 to say a student had a knife. He described himself, according to a document released by the prosecutor’s office, because he had planned to die from “suicide by cop.”

When the officers got to the dorms, Bazan kept his hands in his pockets as the police attempted de-escalation tactics, the document said.

Officers told him to stop and take his hands out of his pockets, but he didn’t comply, the document said. An officer deployed a stun gun, but it was not effective.

Bazan “jerked” his hand from his pocket, and Tiedman Mueller shot at him but missed, the document said. Immediately following the shot, the stun gun subdued Bazan.

Whitman County Prosecuting Attorney Denis Tracy wrote Tiedman Mueller acted in “good faith” and that he did the right thing “for the right reasons.”

“At the point when the officer fired their weapon, there did not appear to be any reasonable alternative,” Tracy wrote.

Bazan was not charged in the incident because it was clear he was in a mental health crisis, the report indicated. He was booked into jail, transferred to a mental health facility and now lives with his parents.

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