A group of fellow Mobile police officers will look over the details of Officer Kevin Kelly’s shooting of a midtown resident’s dog to complete an internal investigation into the incident.
In a prepared statement, police spokeswoman Ashley Rains said Internal Affairs has completed its investigation and will turn its findings over to a Shooting Review Committee, which will study the report and the policies of the department before making a recommendation to Chief James Barber.
Barber said the committee would be made up of a division commander, training commander, policy and procedure commander and a peer of roughly the same rank as Kelly.
The committee will be tasked with giving a recommendation to Barber on how to move forward. Barber said the recommendation could include a change in procedure, a change in training, or disciplinary action.
The committee is expected to complete its part of the investigation next week, according to the statement. Barber said the committee would be standard operating procedure moving forward for officer-involved shootings.
While in pursuit of five suspects near Murphy High School on March 14, Kelly entered Mark Yeager’s backyard and fired two shots. The shots killed one of Yeager’s dogs and injured another. During a previous interview, Barber said an initial investigation showed the dogs were on the porch and charged at Kelly.
Kelly was involved in another officer-involved shooting in February. His shooting of Shawn E. Taylor was deemed acceptable, after an internal investigation.
