Police Brutality / Individual record
Sam Holmes
The Washington Post's Fatal Force database records Sam Holmes in a fatal on-duty police shooting on 2015-05-08 in Fridley, MN. Individual circumstances and legal outcome require case-specific review.
- Record ID
- PB-172
- Incident date
- May 8, 2015
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Fridley, MN
- Agency
- Lino Lakes Police Department
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 31
What happened
Sam Holmes, 31, was killed by Lino Lakes police Sergeant William Owens on Interstate 694 in Fridley, Minnesota, on May 8, 2015. Owens stopped Holmes for speeding and attempted to arrest him. Police said Holmes pulled away during a struggle, was shocked with a Taser, then drove off while Owens was hanging onto the vehicle. Owens shot Holmes during that encounter. Holmes' death was examined in reporting about how encounters can escalate after Taser use. An Anoka County grand jury declined to indict Owens in August 2015 after reviewing possible second-degree murder charges; officials said the shooting was justified. The grand jury's decision is a documented charging outcome, not proof that every part of the initial police narrative was independently verified.
Investigation & findings
Individual legal and investigative outcome not yet reviewed.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 454
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- male
- Flee status (source)
- car
- Agency IDs (source)
- 476
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