Death by Cop  2021-2025

Search fatalities

You can use any or all of the fields to refine the search.

Christopher C. Zenittini

Age : 35

Gender : Male

Race : White

Date : 09/06/2021

Location : 477 Highland Springs Terrace

City : Old Fields

County : Hardy

State : West Virginia

Agency : Hardy County Sheriff's Office

Officer(s) :Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during armed confrontation

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 09/06/2021, Hardy County Sheriff’s Office deputies shot and killed 35-year-old Christopher C. Zenittini at 477 Highland Springs Terrace in Old Fields while deputies were attempting to locate and arrest a fugitive. West Virginia State Police subsequently conducted the investigation of the fatal shooting.
.
The Sheriff’s Office said deputies went to the Highland Springs Terrace residence because they had information that a fugitive was there. While attempting to locate that person, deputies encountered Zenittini. Authorities reported that Zenittini himself had failed to appear in court for an arrest in Hardy County. The available official account does not make clear whether Zenittini was the fugitive deputies originally went to the residence to locate or whether deputies discovered his outstanding matter only after encountering him.
.
The Sheriff’s Office alleged that Zenittini was armed and exchanged gunfire with deputies. Deputies shot Zenittini, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The contemporaneous account does not disclose which deputy fired, how many deputies fired, the number of shots fired by police or Zenittini, where Zenittini was positioned when the gunfire began, who fired first, or the sequence of the exchange.
.
West Virginia State Police Crime Scene Team personnel responded and West Virginia State Police assumed responsibility for investigating the shooting. Moorefield Police Department and Hampshire County Sheriff’s Office personnel also assisted at the scene. The fatal gunfire, however, was attributed to Hardy County sheriff’s deputies.
.
The case remains unusually thin in the public record. The initial September 7 report identified Zenittini, his age, the location, the outstanding court matter and the allegation that he exchanged gunfire with deputies, but a renewed search did not locate a subsequent publicly indexed West Virginia State Police investigative report, prosecutor decision, grand-jury disposition, body-camera release, shooting-officer identification, autopsy findings or detailed reconstruction of the encounter.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND
The Hardy County sheriff’s deputies who shot and killed Christopher Zenittini have not been publicly identified in the records located for this update.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.whsv.com/2021/09/07/wva-state-police-investigates-officer-involved-shooting/