Washington Co. grand jury issues no charges against St. Paul officers in fatal May shooting

January 7, 2017 at 1:49AM

A Washington County grand jury decided not to file charges against St. Paul officers involved in a fatal shooting last May.

The grand jury returned a "no bill" on Wednesday, said Fred Fink, the Washington County attorney's criminal division chief.

St. Paul police fatally shot Jaffort D. Smith about 3:30 a.m. on May 9 in the 700 block of Buffalo Street. Authorities said that Smith had shot and wounded a woman, Beverly J. Flowers, who was with him at the time.

Smith fired on officers who responded to the scene, and ignored repeated orders to drop his weapon, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA).

The four officers who fired their weapons were John Corcoran, Mark Grundhauser, Jeffery Korus and Michael Tschida.

The Ramsey County Attorney's Office asked Washington County to review evidence in the case because Korus is the son of an investigator with the Ramsey County attorney's office.

The BCA investigated the shooting and forwarded the results of its investigation to the Washington County Attorney's Office.

Grand juries consist of up to 23 randomly selected people, and are held in secret. At least 12 members must agree in order to return an indictment.

CHAO XIONG

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