The Campbell County Sheriff’s Office deputy who shot and killed a Wyoming man who fired a shotgun at his patrol vehicle acted in self-defense, the county’s top prosecutor has determined, according to a letter obtained Thursday by Cowboy State Daily.
Campbell County Attorney Nathan Henkes reviewed the independent investigation of the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) of the Aug. 4 shootout between Campbell County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Samuel Boyles and Christopher Morales, who lived in Wright.
Morales was 55.
Henkes then determined that Boyles acted in self-defense by shooting back at Morales and killing him that night, says an Oct. 25 decision letter Henkes sent to Campbell County Sheriff Scott Matheny and released Thursday to Cowboy State Daily.
“The use of deadly force by Deputy Boyles was reasonably necessary under the circumstances presented to protect himself and others on scene, from serious bodily injury or death,” wrote Henkes. “Deputy Boyles only acted after Mr. Morales had fired upon him, and Deputy Boyles had no choice but to act to defend himself and others present on scene.”
Still Think It Was Divine Intervention
Matheny told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday that he still believes it was divine intervention that saved Boyles that night. He also said the Morales family is in his prayers.
“It’s an extremely unfortunate incident,” said Matheny. “Our prayers go out to the family, everybody that’s involved.”
Boyles followed his training, and the department is fortunate to still have him working there, added Matheny.
Boyles was on administrative leave during the DCI investigation, and he passed his psychiatric evaluations before returning to work, the sheriff said.
“Law enforcement is a dangerous career. When you choose to put on the badge and protect our citizens, dangerous things can happen,” said Matheny. “Our No. 1 rule at the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office, and I think among all law enforcement, is to train them the best we can and to have them go home to their families safe every night. And that is my prayer.”
The Breakdown
Henkes’ decision letter gives a breakdown of the incident from the DCI report.
Boyles was called to an isolated area off a dirt road with no streetlights that night, in rural Campbell County, to respond to a 911 call and a domestic incident.
Besides Morales, there were three adults and four children at the home, the letter says.
Morales had been exhibiting erratic behavior and violently assaulted his wife, Henkes wrote, drawing from the report.
“When Mr. Morales was made aware his wife had placed a 911 phone call after the assault, Mr. Morales made comments about engaging law enforcement in a ‘shootout’ if they responded to the residence,” the letter says.
Morales grabbed multiple firearms from the home, which were described as two pistols and a longer gun later found to be a shotgun. He walked outside with the shotgun.
Worried about a dispatch statement that Morales had just walked outside with a gun, and about the 911 call itself, Boyles rushed to the home, says the letter.
Boyles was the first agent on scene.
He pulled into the “extremely dark” driveway area, it only by utility lights and his own headlights. As he was placing the vehicle in park, Morales emerged from another dark area near some parked vehicles and in an “ambush” movement, fired a single blast of the 12-gauge shotgun at the deputy’s patrol vehicle from 25 feet away. The shot shattered the windshield’s glass and hit the windshield’s side pillar.
Boyles hopped out of his driver’s seat and fled to the back of his vehicle for cover.
Morales kept pointing the shotgun toward the deputy. The deputy yelled “get down, get down,” the letter says, drawing from police camera footage of the event.
Boyles fired three shots with his pistol toward Morales. He called out “get down,” then fired another two shots. The whole five-round sequence lasted about seven seconds, Henkes wrote.
Four of the shots hit Morales: two in the chest, one in the leg, and one in the thumb.
When agents collected the shotgun after the incident, they found one shotgun shell in the chamber and three more in the tube, says the letter.
A Little Self-Defense Law
Wyoming self-defense law says if a person is going to use deadly force, that force must be reasonably necessary under the circumstances, and it must be to protect himself or others who are facing a reasonably perceived threat of imminent death or serious bodily injury. The deadly force also must be reasonably necessary in kind and amount, to repel the actual or perceived danger.
If the person who used the deadly force was not the initial aggressor, there are more steps to that analysis and self-defense becomes much harder to demonstrate in court.
Lastly, a person attacked in a place where he is lawfully present and not committing a crime does not have a duty to retreat before using deadly force, the letter explains, in reference to state law.
Boyles’ use of deadly force was appropriate in kind and amount and necessary to repel the threat; Boyles was not the initial aggressor, he was lawfully present on scene, and he had no duty to retreat, Henkes’ letter concludes.
An Obituary
Morales’ obituary calls him “Christobal” Morales.
He was raised in California and met his wife there in 1983. They moved to Wyoming when their family was young. He ran a restaurant for a while, then worked many jobs around town in Buffalo, says his obituary.
The obituary says he loved the outdoors, hunting, being with his family; his horses and his chickens. It characterizes him as a kindly, jovial, and talkative man.
Morales’ daughter Christina declined Thursday to comment to Cowboy State Daily.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
