Police Brutality / Individual record
Thaddeus McCarroll
Thaddeus McCarroll, 23, was shot and killed by St. Louis County officers in Jennings, Missouri on April 17, 2015 after his mother called seeking help with a crisis at home.
- Record ID
- PB-157
- Incident date
- April 17, 2015
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Jennings, MO
- Agency
- St. Louis County Police Department
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 23
What happened
Thaddeus McCarroll's mother contacted St. Louis County police because she was alarmed by her son's behavior at their Jennings home. Police said McCarroll had knives and a sword, and officers conducted an extended armed negotiation outside the residence. When he emerged, he held a knife and a Bible, according to police. After a less-lethal projectile was fired, officers shot him repeatedly. The confrontation was recorded by body camera and discussed in detail by St. Louis-area media. In an editorial, the St. Louis American questioned the reliance on heavily armed police during a mental-health crisis, describing the failed intervention as a killing in a family's front yard. McCarroll's death was the outcome of an emergency call initiated by someone who sought assistance, an essential context omitted by a generic fatal-shooting label.
Investigation & findings
St. Louis County police investigated and released portions of body-camera footage. No later independent criminal disposition was verified in the sources reviewed.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 382
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- male
- Armed status (source)
- knife
- Flee status (source)
- not
- Agency IDs (source)
- 268
Last reviewed: October 25, 2026
Sources & records
- Primary source
- Additional source
- Methodology and national police killings trackingMapping Police Violence · Dataset/methodology
- Fatal Force v2 — fatal on-duty police shootings, 2015–2024The Washington Post · Dataset
- Fatal Force methodology and data limitationsThe Washington Post · Methodology