Police Brutality / Individual record
Kionte Desean Spencer
The Washington Post's Fatal Force database records Kionte Desean Spencer in a fatal on-duty police shooting on 2016-02-26 in Roanoke, VA. Individual circumstances and legal outcome require case-specific review.
- Record ID
- PB-376
- Incident date
- February 26, 2016
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Roanoke, VA
- Agency
- Roanoke County Police Department
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 18
What happened
Kionte DeShaun Spencer, 18, a Hidden Valley High School student, was fatally shot by Roanoke County officers on February 26, 2016, while walking along Electric Road carrying what police thought was a pistol. The object was a damaged BB gun. Dispatchers had received a call alleging Spencer pointed the gun toward passing cars; officers pursued him and unsuccessfully used Tasers before two officers fired three shots as he turned toward them. Prosecutors declined state charges, and the Justice Department announced in November 2016 that evidence was insufficient to prove a willful federal civil-rights offense. The ACLU and community advocates sought release of dashcam records, which the Roanoke Rambler later obtained and published in 2022. Those materials allowed renewed scrutiny of the encounter and officers' tactical choices.
Investigation & findings
Individual legal and investigative outcome not yet reviewed.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 1322
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- male
- Armed status (source)
- replica
- Flee status (source)
- not
- Agency IDs (source)
- 1138
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