Officers shoot, kill armed man after SWAT negotiation in O’Fallon, MO, police say

ST. CHARLES COUNTY (KMOV) -- A man is dead after a SWAT team response in O’Fallon, Missouri, Saturday afternoon, police said.

According to the St. Charles County Critical Incident Response Team that is now handling the case, officers were called to Longfellow Circle just after 2:30 p.m. for a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) call that involved an assault.

A CIT call happens when one or more people involved in an incident are having a mental health crisis.

When police arrived, they discovered that a 32-year-old man had threatened his parents and was armed with a handgun. Before officers arrived, the man’s father had tried taking the handgun, which resulted in a struggle. The gun had gone off several times into the ground and did not hit anyone.

The man’s parents left the home unharmed.

The man then barricaded himself inside the house, which led to a crisis intervention team responding.

SWAT negotiators communicated with the man inside the house, police said.

Eventually, he walked out of the house with a gun, according to police. Police claim that the man then exchanged gunfire with officers. The man, identified Sunday as Taylor Lee Shomaker of St. Charles, was shot and killed by police.

No officers were injured in the incident. Lt. Tom Wilkison with the St. Charles County Critical Incident Response Team said three O’Fallon officers, one St. Peters officer, and one St. Charles City officer were involved in the shooting. Wilkison added that there is officer-worn body camera footage from the incident but it is not being released at this time because of the active investigation.

News 4 reported a story earlier this month about how St. Charles County SWAT negotiators work in a crisis situation. The county’s SWAT team is called to an average of eight to 10 situations involving barricaded people every year.

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