Suddenly, while Gagne was still on the phone with a police negotiator, Mesa officer Shawn Freeman “ignored the status of the negotiations” and shot through a window at Gagne, striking him in the face. Gagne then set down his weapon, raised his hands and walked slowly toward the door, where a negotiator told him emergency medical workers awaited to treat him.
When he approached the door, though, Mesa police and SWAT officers opened fire en masse, killing the 28-year-old Gagne as he tried to surrender.
That’s the depiction of events as alleged by Gagne’s parents, Christopher and Suzette Gagne, in a lawsuit filed in federal court on June 4. The suit, which named the city of Mesa and 35 police department employees as defendants, alleged that Mesa and the police involved violated Gagne’s civil rights and were negligent in hiring, training and supervising officers, among other violations.
“MPD’s use of force against Shawn constituted an unreasonable seizure of his person and was willful, malicious, intentional, reckless, and with deliberate indifference to Shawn’s constitutional rights,” the lawsuit read.
Mesa police spokesperson Lisa Berry declined to comment on the lawsuit. The Gagnes’ attorney, Zachary Mushkatel, did not respond to requests for comment from Phoenix New Times.
Shawn Gagne, shown in a photo from a GoFundMe page organized by his sister to pay for his funeral costs, was 28 years old when he was killed in July 2023.
Screenshot via GoFundMe
‘Startled and confused’
When police arrived at Gagne’s apartment, the lawsuit said, Gagne was passed out drunk.According to the suit, Gagne was scheduled to enter an alcohol treatment facility the next day. But in the hours before he was killed by police, he had consumed a half gallon of vodka.
At approximately 8:35 p.m., the suit said, a neighbor knocked on Gagne's door, presumably to visit Gagne’s fiancée, Jordan Wirtjes. Gagne answered and refused to let the neighbor enter. Wirtjes went outside to speak to the neighbor, but Gagne told them to leave. Wirtjes walked to the grocery store.
While she was gone, the neighbor called 911 and said Gagne had fired a gun into the air from his patio.
Police arrived at 9:33 p.m. and surrounded the apartment unit. They tried unsuccessfully to communicate with Gagne over an intercom system while also blaring squad car sirens for 15 minutes. Officers then fired bean bag rounds at the door and then through the upper windows of the apartment to get Gagne’s attention.
According to the lawsuit, video from security cameras inside Gagne’s apartment showed Gagne sleeping on the sofa the entire time. The lawsuit doesn't allege that police had access to the video during the incident.
Wirtjes then returned to the apartment complex, telling police Gagne was extremely intoxicated and encouraging them to let Gagne sober up before taking any action. She also told police during the standoff that he made statements during the day about "not wanting to be here anymore" and that "he could not do it anymore."
“Eventually,” the lawsuit said, “Shawn woke up startled and confused.” The suit said he opened his front door, saw officers and immediately shut the door. He then returned to the front door “with a rifle pointed down at his side,” the lawsuit said, though it noted he “did not raise the rifle.” Gagne then closed the door and went back inside.
At around 10 p.m., a Mesa police SWAT team arrived, and snipers took positions in other apartment units with a line of sight through Gagne’s windows. Police instructed Gagne to exit the apartment empty-handed. He responded with “irrational rantings, some inviting violence and others demonstrative of his altered mental state,” the lawsuit claimed.
Wirtjes then called Gagne, eventually placing him on the phone with Matthew Adair, the primary police negotiator on the scene. Adair encouraged Gagne to exit the front door, but Gagne refused. Their conversation was broadcast over police radio, according to the lawsuit.
Minutes later, the SWAT team aimed rifle lasers through the window.
The lawsuit alleged Mesa SWAT officers were among those responsible for the death of Shawn Gagne in July 2023.
Mesa Police Department Facebook Page
‘I’m down!’
At 10:41 p.m., while snipers aimed their rifles into Gagne’s apartment, Adair told Gagne that police were there because of the “incident."“What incident?” Gagne responded, according to the suit.
Three minutes later, Freeman shot Gagne through the window, hitting him in the face. Freeman then fired another shot, the suit claimed, which did not hit Gagne.
Adair again instructed Gagne to walk out the door with his hands up. The lawsuit said Gagne then “placed his weapon on the kitchen counter, raised both of his empty hands in the air” and began walking slowly toward the door. According to the complaint, security footage from inside the apartment “verifies Shawn followed commands, leaving a trail of blood from the kitchen as he walked.”
As Gagne walked, the lawsuit said, Adair said emergency medical personnel awaited to treat him after he exited the apartment. But as Gagne approached the top of the stairway leading to his front door, the lawsuit said, Mesa police and SWAT officers opened fire from both sides of the apartment unit.
The suit said Gagne then tumbled down the stairs “severely wounded” and shouted, “I’m down! I’m down!” Then, the suit added, Mesa police Sgt. Matthew Harris “and possibly other officers” fired again at Gagne through the open front door before Adair shouted, “Weapons down!”
As Gagne lay motionless with one leg visible through the doorway, police shot ferret gas into the apartment and then deployed a police dog to “assess” Gagne. Then — more than 30 minutes after he was first shot and at least 10 minutes after the barrage that sent him falling down the stairs, according to the suit — police tased Gagne’s neck and right calf, handcuffed him and “dragged Shawn’s lifeless body down the front steps.”
At 11:41 p.m., Gagne was pronounced dead.
“It is with great sadness that we share the unexpected passing of our beloved little brother Shawn Taylor Gagné,” wrote his sister, Karen Gagne, in a GoFundMe post to raise money for funeral costs after his killing. “Shawn was the most loving, thoughtful, generous soul, and he will be deeply missed.”
Mesa Police Chief Ken Cost was named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed on June 4.
Mesa Police Department
A history of excessive force
A Mesa police statement at the time of the shooting claimed police “exchanged gunfire” with Gagne. But the lawsuit said Gagne was severely outnumbered and outgunned, complied with commands to drop his weapons, was not near police and posed no immediate threat to officers when they fired on him. Because of that, the suit said, the city and police violated his civil rights.The lawsuit also blamed the city of Mesa for failing to properly train and supervise officers about interacting with mentally ill, intoxicated and emotionally disturbed people. It also faulted the city for creating a “culture of impunity permitting officers to use excessive force and unnecessary force without a fear of discipline or oversight.”
In addition, the complaint claimed the city has engaged in “what appeared to be delay tactics” to “deliberately stall the disclosure of information” pertinent to the lawsuit.
The suit is not the first one this year in which Mesa police have been accused of using excessive force. Two similar lawsuits were filed against the department in March. One concerned the fatal shooting of a man who allegedly reached for a gun while officers were tasing him. In the other lawsuit, a woman sued Mesa police for shooting her in the back while she allegedly was seeking help from an officer during a mental health crisis.
The second lawsuit, filed on behalf of Taneysha Carter, stated that the Mesa Police Department has an “established history of excessive force incidents,” especially against individuals experiencing behavioral health crises. It noted 13 excessive force incidents that occurred between 2016 and 2023, including six in which the city paid out anywhere from $175,000 to $8 million to victims and their families.
In the first six months of 2022, Mesa settled 10 excessive force, assault and wrongful death claims relating to the actions of officers, paying more than $5.4 million in settlement money, according to the East Valley Tribune. The city also paid nearly $10 million in settlements to the widow and parents of Daniel Shaver, an unarmed man shot and killed by police in a hotel hallway in 2016.
