MERIDIAN, Idaho — The Ada County coroner has identified the man shot and killed by police inside a Meridian RV park early Monday morning. He is 58-year-old Arthur Z. Ferrel of Kuna.
He died from multiple gunshot wounds. The coroner says toxicology results are pending and could take several weeks to return.
Ada County Dispatch said officers responded at 3:36 a.m. to a 'shots fired' call at the KOA Journey at 184 Pennwood Street in Meridian.
According to Meridian Police Dep. Chief Tracy Basterrechea, the suspect was "shooting rounds indiscriminately from a trailer" inside the park. It is not clear whether he was aiming at anyone or anything in particular.
The man continued to fire after officers arrived on the scene. The Boise Police Department said in a news release Monday evening that three of its officers fired at the man, who later died from his injuries.
The officers involved in the incident are A. Morlock, an officer with 6 years of experience, J. Green, an officer with 12 years of experience, and S. Martinez, an officer with 17 years of experience.
"We value the sanctity of human life, and no Boise Police Officer takes the use of deadly force lightly. Our condolences go out to the family of the deceased," Boise Police Chief Ryan Lee said in a statement. "All of the officers at the scene are trained to respond to people in mental health crisis and regularly are able to de-escalate situations, but due to the ongoing and obvious danger presented by the suspect, the officers involved had a moral and ethical obligation to intervene."
No officers were shot. Basterrechea said multiple trailers inside the park were struck by bullets, but no one else was injured.
"We're very fortunate for that," he said.
Boise police said the suspect was firing at other nearby trailers when they arrived at the park. Officers surrounded the suspect's trailer and one officer with a line of sight on the man took a shot. As officers tried to enter the trailer, the man started shooting again and two other officers returned fire.
The shooter was taken outside where paramedics attempted to save his life, but he was later pronounced dead.
BPD said the officers involved in the shooting were two 12-year veteran officers and one 6-year veteran officer. They are on paid administrative leave per department policy. All of the officers were wearing body cameras.
Police: Suspect dead after shooting at Meridian KOA
Meridian Police, Boise Police, and the Ada County Sheriff's Office all responded to the shooting. The man's death is now being investigated by the Ada County Critical Incident Task Force, led by Garden City Police.
Ron Lundquist, who manages the park, says he met Ferrel several days ago when he checked in alone.
"He appeared to be a kind, nice individual," Lundquist said. "He registered for one week."
Lundquist added that he was glad police showed up when they did because the RV park was full that night and many of the guests were families. "As bad as the situation was, it could have been worse in so many ways."
Lundquist said one of his employees called him during the shooting to tell him what was going on.
"She was terrified," Lundquist recalled. "To be woken up out of her sleep by gunshots in an area where they are never expected, this has always been a peaceful area, and it just becomes immediately unnerving and I could tell in her tone the urgency she had."
Basterrechea described the incident as a "very, very tense situation for the people who were staying here at the KOA as well as the officers who responded to the scene."
It's unclear how many rounds in total the suspect fired before he was killed, but BPD said it was "dozens of times."
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