Chief Thompson was protecting children

Valley City (CSi) Valley City’s Police Chief, who pulled his service revolver who on a father who was wielding what he thought was an automatic rifle, has told the man that he was lucky he complied with his instructions to drop the gun.

Chief Fred Thompson later told the father, Ross Powell, who was playing with air guns with his sons, he would have fired to protect the children, whom the chief didn’t realize were playing war games in their front yard.

Powell told investigators that he reported the incident because Thompson apparently didn’t call for backup, and if shots had been fired, it would have been his word against Thompson’s.

Thompson says he did not call in the incident because the situation called for an immediate response to protect the kids.

The North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation reviewed the incident after Powell complained about Thompson’s actions in the October 10, 2015 episode. Authorities concluded that no crimes were committed and released their report.

Thompson, says he was not interviewed for the report, and that he did not see the orange tip on the gun Powell was holding, a mark to distinguish the AR-15 look-alike from a real firearm, but saw the man pointing the rifle at children.

Thompson reportedly acknowledged that he did stop by a few days later to apologize to Powell.