Police Brutality / Individual record
Darnell Wicker
The Washington Post's Fatal Force database records Darnell Wicker in a fatal on-duty police shooting on 2016-08-08 in Louisville, KY. Individual circumstances and legal outcome require case-specific review.
- Record ID
- PB-496
- Incident date
- August 8, 2016
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Louisville, KY
- Agency
- Louisville Metro Police Department
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 57
What happened
Darnell Wicker, 57, was shot and killed by Louisville police Officers Beau Gadegaard and Taylor Banks on August 8, 2016, following a domestic-disturbance call at an apartment on Broadleaf Drive. Wicker emerged holding a tree saw. Officers said he advanced toward them despite warnings; his daughters disputed that he charged and criticized the multiple shots fired within seconds and the lack of immediate medical aid. Commonwealth's Attorney Tom Wine found the shooting legally justified in 2017. Wicker's family pursued federal litigation over excessive force and failure to provide aid, and Louisville settled the lawsuit for $1.25 million in December 2019. The criminal no-charge decision and civil payment are distinct outcomes.
Investigation & findings
Individual legal and investigative outcome not yet reviewed.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 1766
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- male
- Armed status (source)
- knife
- Flee status (source)
- not
- Agency IDs (source)
- 583
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