Police Brutality / Individual record
Jaffort Smith
The Washington Post's Fatal Force database records Jaffort Smith in a fatal on-duty police shooting on 2016-05-09 in St. Paul, MN. Individual circumstances and legal outcome require case-specific review.
- Record ID
- PB-428
- Incident date
- May 9, 2016
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- St. Paul, MN
- Agency
- St. Paul Police Department
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 33
What happened
Jaffort Demont Smith, 33, was fatally shot by four St. Paul officers on May 9, 2016. Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigators said officers responded to calls about a man with a firearm and found Smith with Beverly Joan Flowers, 49. Smith reportedly shot Flowers in the head, then fled into a yard and fired at pursuing officers. Officers John Corcoran, Mark Grundhauser, Jeffery Korus and Michael Tschida returned fire. Flowers survived. The St. Paul Police Department's later use-of-force report said a Washington County grand jury concluded the officers' actions were lawful. This reported gunfire and Flowers's injury are essential to the chronology, while the grand jury's no-charge decision is distinct from a criminal trial.
Investigation & findings
Individual legal and investigative outcome not yet reviewed.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 1520
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- male
- Armed status (source)
- gun
- Flee status (source)
- not
- Agency IDs (source)
- 63
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