SWAT told Olathe police not to go in, body cams show. They did anyway and killed a woman

The law officers who shot and killed Ciara Howard in the laundry room of an Olathe house last August had been warned by their own SWAT teams: Going into the house to arrest the mentally distressed and likely armed 26-year-old on an outstanding warrant was not worth the risk.

Body camera footage obtained by The Star shows that the Olathe police and Johnson County deputies who staged around the house in a three-hour siege were fully briefed.

They knew that Howard’s troubled history was littered with only minor, nonviolent offenses marked by addiction and mental illness.

They knew her warrant was for walking away from the county’s adult residential center where she’d been required to report after her latest conviction.

They knew she was acting irrationally.

And they knew she had access to her boyfriend’s .45-caliber handgun.

“It’s not worth getting into a shootout and hurting an officer or hurting her over the type of warrants that we have,” a commander on the scene was heard on camera, relaying the word from Olathe and Johnson County that neither of their SWAT teams wanted to come and go in the house.

The sheriff himself said no, he reported.

“What are we going to do?” a frustrated Johnson County deputy asked. “Bail on it?”

The camera footage — more than 23 hours' worth — obtained after The Star filed a lawsuit against Olathe, reveals actions and inactions that troubled experts.

▪ At no time during the three hours were specially trained negotiators or mental health specialists ever called to the scene.

▪ The police put Howard’s boyfriend into an ill-fated role of negotiator, contrary to recommended police practice that discourages using family or friends in crisis negotiations.

▪ And despite many warnings against entering the home, police went in, putting lives at risk when waiting Howard out remained a safer option.

The footage shows a woman, not considered a danger to anyone before, becoming dangerous.

“It was a botched arrest,” said Delores Jones-Brown, a retired professor with New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

It is unclear “why they had to arrest in that way at that time,” she said. “Did the officers’ behavior escalate her behavior to the point she picked up the gun?”

The Star dropped its lawsuit April 27 after receiving all the requested videos. This week, the Olathe Police Department declined a request for an interview with Chief Steven Menke. They asked The Star to submit questions but later provided a written statement that did little to answer them.

"The death of Ciara Howard was a tragedy for everyone involved," the department said. "It has impacted families, officers involved and the community."

Olathe noted that a multijurisdictional investigation reviewed by the Johnson County prosecutor determined the shooting was justified.

But the prosecutor's finding addressed only the threat the officers faced once they were in the house, Johnson County Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris McMullin said at the time. It did not address the tactics and decisions officers made to enter the house.

The Olathe police did not respond to questions from The Star about why commanders on the scene ultimately did not heed the SWAT team warnings that it was not worth the risk to go in.

Johnson County Sheriff Calvin Hayden said his deputies were at the scene to back up Olathe police. He said he did not know why Olathe commanders ultimately decided to go in the house.

Officers went in — 10 in all — behind a ballistic shield, with a German shepherd barking on command, and their handguns leveled, stalking methodically through the small house, seemingly certain they could bring her out safely.

But everything that they’d been warned was possible was waiting ahead. Howard, distraught and defiant, would indeed have the gun.

“It’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” said University of Texas at Dallas criminology professor Robert W. Taylor, speaking of the wrenching dilemmas that weigh on officers in standoffs.

The stakes are as high as the lives of the officers, the surrounding neighbors and, on this long August afternoon, Ciara Howard, who lost her life.

Olathe's statement said: "Howard chose to arm herself and point a gun at officers and a deputy. Those officers responded to that threat in protection of themselves and others. Sadly, Howard died as a result of her actions."

But the question Olathe officials refused to answer persists.

“I still don’t understand,” said Mark Arnold, the husband of Howard’s mother. “Why did they go in?”