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LeKenneth Q. Miller

Age : 30

Gender : Male

Race : Black

Date : 11/03/2021

Location : 400 block Selma Street

City : Eau Claire

County : Eau Claire

State : Wisconsin

Agency : Eau Claire Police Department

Officer(s) :Kristopher O’Neill

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during armed confrontation

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 11/03/2021, Eau Claire Police Department Officer Kristopher O’Neill shot and killed LeKenneth Q. Miller, 30, inside a residence in the 400 block of Selma Street in Eau Claire. Police responded at approximately 2:41 p.m. after dispatch received a 911 hang-up call and called the number back. A woman reported that she and another woman were hiding in a locked bedroom because Miller, the other woman’s former boyfriend, had entered the residence.
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The caller told dispatch that Miller had allegedly strangled the other woman approximately one week earlier. During the 911 call, she reported that Miller had entered the home, was armed with a knife and was attempting to reach the women. One of the women escaped before police entered the residence.
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Officers Kristopher O’Neill and Jason Kaveney entered the residence. Police reported that Miller had stabbed the remaining woman multiple times. Investigators subsequently recovered a broken knife in the bathroom and another knife near where Miller fell after being shot.
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According to the subsequent investigation, O’Neill and Kaveney encountered Miller armed with a knife. O’Neill fired his service weapon, striking Miller. Police and emergency medical personnel attempted lifesaving measures, but Miller died at the scene. The wounded woman was initially transported to a local hospital and then flown to another hospital for treatment of serious injuries.
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The Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation led the independent investigation with assistance from the Wisconsin State Patrol. The completed investigation was forwarded to the Eau Claire County District Attorney’s Office for review.
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On 12/28/2021, the Eau Claire County District Attorney’s Office announced that O’Neill would not face criminal charges. Prosecutors concluded that his use of deadly force was legally justified as self-defense and defense of others under the circumstances documented by the DCI investigation.
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Wisconsin DOJ has subsequently made the DCI investigative file for Miller’s death available through its Officer Involved Critical Incidents archive, including case reports and related digital records.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Kristopher O’Neill was the officer who shot Miller. Jason Kaveney was present during the encounter but available records identify O’Neill as the officer who fired. O’Neill had previously fatally shot Matthew Zank during a 2017 Eau Claire police encounter. The district attorney also ruled O’Neill’s use of deadly force justified in that shooting. A later Wisconsin Watch review reported that Eau Claire police had shot and killed four people during the preceding decade.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.wisdoj.gov/Pages/AboutUs/officer-involved-critical-incidents.aspx
https://www.wisdoj.gov/PressReleases/11.3.21%20Eau%20Claire%20OID%20-%20UPDATE.pdf
https://www.weau.com/2021/11/03/police-respond-reports-shots-fired-eau-claire/
https://www.weau.com/2021/11/08/update-eau-claire-officer-involved-death-investigation/
https://www.weau.com/2021/12/28/eau-claire-officers-use-deadly-force-justified-november-shooting/
https://wisconsinwatch.org/2022/08/police-in-wisconsin-killed-143-people-since-2013-lower-than-national-rate/