Death by Cop- 2024
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Christopher Ryan Junkin
Gender : Male
Age : 44
Race : White
Date : 06/30/2024
Location :
City : Crookston
County : Polk
State : Minnesota
Agency : Crookston Police Department
Officer(s) :Nick Fladland, Corey Rich, April Hansen
Cause of Death : Gunshot
Event : Killed by police during mental
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :
Crookston PD arrived at a homeless shelter, found an agitated man in mental health crisis who was a resident in the homeless shelter. He was allegedly throwing items and was attacked with tasers simultaneously by 3 officers until Officer Fladland shot and killed him.
His shelter roommate whose interview is linked in the source links below stated that Christopher Ryan Junkin was a “good man” who was only experiencing a mental health episode and that he begged police to understand this and support him.
Likewise, his family spoke to media, stated that he had been a very generous and thoughtful man and why six officers reportedly participated in the fatal event and nobody reached out to help him instead of attacking him.
A link to his family’s GoFundMe page is posted in the Source Links below. His family has been unable to raise enough funds for cremation and final family wishes.
Police did not answer the question whether he had been armed or not. Police only stated that he was "being combative toward officers and was not following officers' verbal commands."
On July 9, 2024, the BCA confirmed that multiple bullet wounds had killed Junkin and simultaneously recommended not to charge officer Fladland for this killing. It was known at the time of this recommendation that he had already killed a second person days prior to being cleared.
He had been cleared back to work at an unknown time before being cleared by BCA as he was back on duty on June 30, 2024 to kill Christopher Junkin.
PREVIOUS SHOOTING BY OFFICER FLADLAND:
Officer Nick Fladland who shot and killed him had also killed Andrew Scott Dale on May 16, 2024 and was under investigation for this killing when he killed Junkin.
SOURCE LINKS :
https://www.valleynewslive.com/2024/07/01/use-of-force-investigation-underway-crookston/
Chris Junkin GoFundMe:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-bring-chris-home-a-familys-plea?lang=en_US&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link
Previous killing by Officer Fladland:
https://www.grandforksherald.com/news/minnesota/minnesota-bureau-of-criminal-apprehension-identifies-people-involved-in-crookston-us
