Prosecutor says officer-involved shooting was self-defense, releases report detailing incident

IDAHO FALLS — An Idaho Falls Police officer acted in self-defense and will not be prosecuted for shooting a man weilding a knife, Bonneville County Prosecuting Attorney Randy Neal announced Wednesday evening.

Neal’s decision comes after the East Idaho Critical Incident Response Team investigated the shooting and turned their findings over to the prosecutor’s office.

The incident

Officer Dustin Cook shot 63-year-old Kevin Chambers on Nov. 27 after being called to the Eagles Lodge on Hemmert Avenue. Cook is a senior patrol officer with 25 years of experience, according to the Idaho Falls Police Department.

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Chambers was visiting Idaho Falls for the holidays and left a relative’s home to walk to the lodge the evening of the shooting, according to a 12-page report released by Neal.

The relative was concerned because Chambers left and said “Don’t worry, I’ll be dead by morning,” Neal wrote.

Once Chambers arrived at the lodge, he reportedly sent text messages or made phones calls with messages “along the lines of he wasn’t going to make it through the night.” The relative called police and Cook arrived at the Eagles Lodge around 7:35 p.m.

The officer approached Chambers at the bar, according to the report, and the two shook hands. Cook told Chambers his family was concerned for his safety and asked Chambers if he planned to hurt himself.

“Chambers stated with a smile and a small chuckle, ‘My God, really,'” the report says.

Chambers asked Cook why he was looking for him and the officer said he was checking on his welfare because Chambers’ family thought he was suicidal. Chambers responded, “No I am not suicidal, for Christ’s sake.”

Chambers then stood up and moved closer to where Cook was standing, according to the report. Cook again told Chambers his family was concerned for his mental health and brought up the fact that Chambers suffered a stroke in 2020.

“Officer Cook asked him if the hospital asked him to follow up with mental health. Mr. Chambers said he walked out of the hospital because he was not going to be held prisoner. Officer Cook said, ‘okay’ and ‘fair enough,'” the report says. “Mr. Chambers chuckled with a smile again and said ‘this is crazy’ as he paced a few steps away from Officer Cook.”

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Cook asked Chambers how much alcohol he had consumed and how he was going to get home. Chambers again asked why the officer was there and Cook asked him to “move back to where they first started the conversation” because the officer did not like to feel “trapped” in the corner.

Chambers moved and then, moments later, pulled out a knife.

“At approximately 7:49 p.m., Mr. Chambers tilted his head back down and said, ‘You know what.’ Mr. Chambers reached around his left side to the small of his back and grabbed a fixed blade knife from a knife sheath on his belt with his left hand,” the report says. “Officer Cook said, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, put that, whoa, whoa, put that away, put it down.’ You can hear Mr. Chambers saying ‘no’ in the middle of Officer Cook talking.”

Cook then pushed Chambers into a chair to create distance between them and Chambers reportedly said something to the effect of, “Don’t be pushing me around.”

Cook told Chambers to put the knife down but Chambers moved toward Cook with the blade, in his right hand, pointed toward the officer. Chambers raised his left arm and “pointed towards his own chest as he walked towards Officer Cook.”

Cook said, “Stop, stop, stop” before firing three shots, according to the report. The officer called for backup and an ambulance as he rendered first aid to Chambers.

Chambers was taken to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center and then flown to the University of Utah Hospital. He survived the shooting and has since received medical care.

The findings

Investigators reviewed body camera footage and video from the Eagles Lodge that recorded the entire encounter. They interviewed 13 witnesses, one of whom heard Chambers say to someone on the phone, “I will be dead before the night is over.”

Test results show Chambers’ blood alcohol level was 0.177, according to Neal’s report, which is more than two times the legal driving limit of 0.08. A toxicology screen revealed he also had an anesthetic drug in his blood.

Cook told investigators “he felt like he was in imminent danger of getting stabbed or hurt or sliced up, and that he made the decision that because the male had the ability and opportunity to hurt him to that extent, that he needed to defend himself.”

Neal said he could find no evidence that the officer acted with any other motivation than self-defense when he shot Chambers.

“Under Idaho law, Officer Cook cannot be placed in legal jeopardy of any kind whatsoever for protecting himself by reasonable means necessary, from becoming the victim of aggravated assault,” Neal wrote. “I conclude that Officer Cook was protecting himself from an aggravated assault.”

Cook will not face criminal charges and is back on the job with the Idaho Falls Police Department.

Read Neal’s entire 12-page report here.