The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office has cleared two St. Paul police officers of wrongdoing in a November 2024 fatal shooting.
Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and prosecutors on staff announced Wednesday that officers Matthew Foy and Eric Jaworski were faced with an “immediate deadly threat” when they encountered Mychel Allan Stowers and fatally shot him.
On Nov. 9, 2024, the officers were attempting to apprehend Stowers, 36, who was wanted on two second-degree murder charges in connection with the death of his pregnant ex-wife, Damara Alexis Stowers, 35, weeks earlier.
The shooting occurred on the 1100 block of W. 7th Streer as the officers, who were in a squad car, sped toward Stowers, who was riding a bicycle.
Citing body- and dashboard-camera footage, along with witness statements, the attorney’s office said Stowers raised a gun and pointed it at the vehicle.
Jaworski fired an AR-15 through the windshield of the squad car. Foy then exited the car and opened fire with a handgun.
St. Paul police released footage of the incident less than a week later.
“The two officers reasonably believed that firing their respective weapons at Mr. Stowers in response to that threat was necessary to defend themselves,” the county attorney’s office wrote in a 28-page memo explaining the decision not to bring charges.
