Ongoing Coverage: A rural Kentucky community mourns a man killed in botched raid
Updated: Sep 19
About a year before I came on board at the Herald-Leader, police in the sleepy town of London, Kentucky, shot and killed a man they say pointed a gun at him while serving an early morning search warrant. After doggedly pursuing the story, I was able to report that police who showed up that night had the wrong address.
A year after deadly Kentucky police raid, the public is still demanding answers
LONDON, Ky.—Drivers along a stretch of Main Street near the intersection with West Dixie in London have grown accustomed to the sight of signs and battery-operated candles near the tire center, just down the road from the police station and city hall.
On the 23rd of every month, like clockwork, a line of people forms along the sidewalk there in the early evening to mark the death of a man they say was wrongly gunned down by police in a Laurel County search raid gone wrong.
This month was no different, aside from the sense of urgency among the few dozen protesters standing watch here. Dec. 23 marked one year since Douglas “Doug” Harless, a 63-year-old Lily man, was shot and killed by police in his home on Vanzant Road south of town. The investigation into his death continues.
Harless’ friends and family are demanding answers, however. Kentucky State Police say the agency has turned the case over to a special prosecutor, but charges have not been filed as of late December.
The state attorney general’s office appointed Russell and Wayne counties commonwealth’s attorney Matthew Leveridge to oversee the case earlier this year, but it is still unclear whether a grand jury has been empaneled to consider charges against any of the London Police Department officers involved in the 2024 shooting.
Leveridge did not immediately respond to a Herald-Leader request for comment.
The officer who shot and killed Harless has never been publicly identified, but they remain on administrative leave.
“I just want answers, accountability and action to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” said Jamie Burns, the Justice for Doug movement organizer who hosts the monthly vigils. “There should be policy and procedure changes, and to make sure they’re following the policies, and none of that’s really happening. There’s no changes happening.”
Tuesday’s vigil drew people to the small Laurel County city of about 7,500 from as far away as Utah because Harless’ killing speaks to a larger story about police accountability and distrust in America, Burns said.
In the year since the incident, local city politics have devolved into a showdown between a populist mayor and the city council that reached an apex this year when Mayor Randall Weddle was removed and later reinstated.
Still, the council has made some improvements, including forcing the police department to reinstate the use of officer-worn body cameras, said Kelly Gibson, who was raised in London and makes the drive south back to her hometown each month to attend the vigils.
“We’re still not going away, even after a year later,” Gibson said. “We’re still going strong.”
Harless was shot in his double-wide mobile home at 511 Vanzant Road in rural Laurel County shortly before midnight Dec. 23, 2024, after police say he pointed a gun at them while they were conducting a search for stolen lawn equipment.
The original warrant, which still has not been made public, was reportedly listed for 489 Vanzant Road, which is where Harless’ house appears on local county property valuation administrator maps. A nearby mobile home that has a street address of 489 Vanzant appears on the PVA map as 525.
City officials told the Herald-Leader police used information from the 911 system and PVA to confirm the location when they prepared the original warrant. But the house numbers at the address police showed up to that night did not match, and it is still unclear where the discrepancy between those maps and the actual numbered addresses arose.
A follow-up KSP warrant, which has been reviewed by the Herald-Leader, says London police officers knocked on Harless’ door. The man allegedly acknowledged their presence but refused to open the door. After knocking several more times, officers broke the door and encountered Harless, who reportedly raised a pistol toward them.
He was shot by police with a rifle five times.
“For me to feel safe in my own home and for other people that I’ve talked to feel safe in their own homes, they need to have some conclusion to this, either a policy change or somebody held accountable,” said Elliott Stoddard, of Berea, who also makes regularly makes the trip to London to attend the evening vigils. “If we don’t have any change, then police can barge into anybody’s house at any time for any reason and shoot them dead.”
Grand jury declines to indict London police officers in Doug Harless shooting
LONDON, Ky. — A Laurel County grand jury declined to indict anyone Friday morning in the high-profile shooting death of a Lily man during a December 2024 raid.
London Police Department Detective Josh Morgan was cleared of any suspected wrongdoing related to shooting of Douglas “Doug” Harless, 63, who was shot and killed by officers in his home on Vanzant Road south of town just two days before Christmas 2024.
The grand jury considered charges of murder, first-degree manslaughter, second-degree manslaughter and reckless homicide, according to a copy of the no true bill obtained by the Herald-Leader.
In the aftermath of the shooting, the public has raised significant concerns about whether officers visited the wrong address when executing a search warrant for stolen lawn equipment.
Until Friday, the officers who fired on Harless have never been identified, but Morgan was named in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the department by his family.
Russell and Wayne counties commonwealth’s attorney Matthew Leveridge was appointed by the state attorney general’s office to oversee the case last year. Now, the case Leveridge was exploring against Morgan has been dropped. No charges were filed.
“The grand jury was provided with everything we know at this point, and this is what they decided,” Leveridge told the Herald-Leader.
An internal investigation will continue
No other individuals were indicted by the grand jury Friday in connection to the Harless’ death either, and the criminal case is effectively closed, barring any additional evidence, Leveridge said.
London Mayor Randall Weddle took to Facebook Friday following the proceedings pledging the city and police department will conduct its own internal administrative review of the shooting to determine whether officers’ actions complied with departmental policies and procedures.
Weddle said he “recognizes the seriousness of this incident and remains committed to a thorough, fair, and transparent review process.” The city will make its findings public once the review is complete, he said.
The London Police Department issued a statement saying it is awaiting release of the investigative file from the Kentucky State Police to begin its administrative review.
The grand jury returned “no true bill,” meaning it did not believe there was enough evidence to indict, and no charges will be filed.
A grand jury consists of 12 people. In order to secure an indictment, nine must agree on the charges. The group determines probable cause in order to send a defendant to the circuit court.
What happened in the case
Harless was shot in his double-wide mobile home at 511 Vanzant Road in rural Laurel County shortly before midnight Dec. 23, 2024, after police say he pointed a gun at them while they were conducting a search for stolen lawn equipment.
The original warrant, which still has not been made public, reportedly listed 489 Vanzant Road, which is where Harless’ house appears on local county property valuation administrator maps. A nearby mobile home that has a street address of 489 Vanzant appears on the PVA map as 525.
City officials told the Herald-Leader police used information from the 911 system and PVA to confirm the location when they prepared the original warrant. But the house numbers at the address police showed up to that night did not match, and it is still unclear where the discrepancy between those maps and the actual numbered addresses arose.
A follow-up KSP warrant, which has been reviewed by the Herald-Leader, says London police officers knocked on Harless’ door. The man allegedly acknowledged their presence but refused to open the door. After knocking several more times, officers broke the door and encountered Harless, who allegedly raised a pistol toward them.
He was shot by police with a rifle five times.
City remains under investigation
Harless’ death became a point of contention in local politics, dividing the London City Council and Weddle’s administration on how the investigation should be handled. The council voted to implement body worn cameras to its police force as a result.
The FBI and city council launched separate investigations this month into Weddle and his administration, particularly over the police department’s alleged misuse of federal criminal database software.
Emails obtained by the Herald-Leader reveal KSP concluded that “recent findings of misuse” had occurred with the police department’s handling of the National Crime Information Center database, forcing officials to place the department under the highest affordable sanction, essentially cutting the agency off from all access to federal crime information databases.
The London-Laurel County dispatch center transferred sponsorship of the database from the city police department to the county sheriff’s office shortly after the KSP announced its decision.
The city council released a statement Friday, saying the grand jury’s decision in the Harless case “is not the end of this story. It is not a statement that Doug Harless’s life mattered any less.”
Weddle and the London Police Department did not immediately respond to a Herald-Leader request for comment Friday.
‘Devastated’ community reacts to lack of charges in Doug Harless police shooting
LONDON, Ky. — Organizers in the Southeastern Kentucky town of London were rocked Friday by a decision from a Laurel County grand jury not to file any charges against the police officers who shot and killed a man in 2024 while allegedly serving a warrant to the wrong address.
Douglas “Doug” Harless, 63, was shot and killed by officers in his home on Vanzant Road two days before Christmas 2024. Officers with the London Police Department were acting on a warrant, which has not been released to the public, in connection to stolen lawn equipment.
The officers who fired on Harless have never been publicly identified, and only one, a detective, was named as part of Friday’s proceedings.
The shooting led to immediate backlash with vigils and protests being held in Harless’ honor and in an effort to demand accountability.
“We’re obviously devastated,” said Jamie Burns, a community organizer who has been holding monthly vigils on Main Street in London to pressure city leaders to seek justice. “This has been going on for 14 months now, and the fact that it’s taken 14 months to get here is ridiculous in itself. But for this to be the outcome, it’s ... it’s just very distasteful.”
Friday, a grand jury filed into a fourth-floor courtroom in London and delivered a “no-bill” for a detective who was on the scene the night Harless was killed and anyone else who may have been involved in the shooting.
A no-bill means grand jury members believe there was not probable cause a crime was committed, and therefore, no charges should be filed.
Russell and Wayne counties commonwealth’s attorney Matthew Leveridge, who was appointed by the state attorney general’s office as a special prosecutor in the Harless case, said he provided the grand jury with “everything we know at this point.”
It’s not clear yet what details were presented, but Burns said she suspects the presentation centered on the shooting itself, not the decisions by law enforcement that led law enforcement officers to Harless’ door.
A mix-up in addresses led officers to Harless’ home at 511 Vanzant Road in Lily, though, according to police dispatch audio and activity call logs, they intended to search a different home about 250 feet away.
“If they should have never been at his door in the first place, then your focus shouldn’t be on the shooting,” Burns said.
Leveridge told the Herald-Leader he presented “everything we were aware of” and the grand jury heard “extensive evidence” to reach their conclusion that no charges should be filed.
Kelly Gibson, who was raised in London and makes the drive south back to her hometown each month to attend the vigils, said she was not surprised by the outcome.
“This is exactly how the city and state have chosen to handle this case from the beginning,” she said.
Kentucky State Police reportedly concluded their investigation of the shooting late last year. Community organizers the Herald-Leader spoke to Friday said they are not giving up the fight for justice over Harless’ killing.
The Harless family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against several officers believed to be at his home the night of his death.
KY officials call for federal civil rights investigation into Harless shooting
Laurel County officials are calling for a federal civil rights investigation into the 2024 police shooting of Douglas “Doug” Harless, just days after a grand jury declined to indict any of the London police officers involved.
Judge-Executive David Westerfield and his administration penned a letter to the U.S. attorney’s office, FBI and U.S. Justice Department Civil Rights Division Monday asking for a probe into whether the London Police Department and city officials violated Harless’ civil rights, and, if so, whether those violations give rise to federal criminal liability.
London police shot and killed Harless, 63, in his Lily home Dec. 23, 2024, while serving a warrant for stolen lawn equipment. Based on statements by officials and city police logs, law enforcement mistook Harless’ address for another. When they kicked down his door and witnessed him holding a pistol, they responded with fire.
Since then, the original search warrant and supporting affidavit have still not been made public. Police department body camera use had been suspended a year before, leaving no footage of the fatal encounter. It also remains unclear why city police were operating outside the London city limits.
That lack of transparency has generated fear and distrust in Laurel County, county officials said Monday. The undersigned officials said they respect the grand jury process, but there are serious concerns about officer conduct the night Harless was killed.
“The limited information available regarding this incident leads us to believe that something of this nature could happen again to anyone in this community, and justice, as we have witnessed in this case, may fall under question,” the letter states.
Officials asked for the FBI “to conduct or expand” an inquiry into police actions that night. The city is already under investigation by the FBI due to alleged misuse of a federal crime information database.
The stolen lawn equipment London police were investigating in 2024 reportedly belonged to Westerfield, but there is no evidence he played a role in the investigation.
In addition to Westerfield, Sheriff John Root, Jailer Jamie Mosley, County Clerk Tony Brown, Property Valuation Administrator Don McFadden, Coroner Doug Bowling, County Surveyor Chris Hubbard and magistrates John Crawford, Danny Smith, Bobby Overbay, Jeff Brook, Billy Oakley and Richard Bales signed the letter.
The officials said they sought and received approval from the Harless family before submitted the request to federal law enforcement Monday.
Harless’ daughters are pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and police department in which they allege civil rights violations, including the former maintenance worker’s Fourth Amendment protection against search and seizure, as well as 14th Amendment rights to due process and equal protection under the law.
The special prosecutor appointed by the state attorney general to oversee the Harless investigation told the Herald-Leader Feb. 20 that he had presented all his findings to the grand jury and that the criminal case was effectively closed, barring any additional evidence.
None of the police officers involved in the shooting have been formally identified, but members of the grand jury considered murder, manslaughter and reckless homicide against a detective on the force, according to a copy of the no true bill the Herald-Leader obtained.
Even though the case the Kentucky State Police investigated has closed, that does not foreclose a federal examination of the civil rights implications of what happened that night, county officials wrote Monday. The family and county deserve that, they said.
“Douglas Harless lost his life on December 23, 2024, in what appears to be a preventable and serious error, and the community of Laurel County has spent over fourteen months being denied the full truth of how and why that error occurred,” officials wrote.
No charges filed against London police in Harless shooting. What comes next?
Members of a southeastern Kentucky town outraged by the 2024 police shooting of a man whose address cops appear to have mistaken are shifting their attention to civil litigation and concealed records now that the criminal investigation has closed.
A Laurel County grand jury declined to indict the London police officers involved in the early-morning raid that left Douglas “Doug” Harless, 63, dead at his home on Vanzant Road south of town two days before Christmas in 2024.
For more than a year since the shooting, police have denied records requests by members of the public, media and attorneys for Harless’ family, citing an ongoing investigation. But the special prosecutor appointed by the Kentucky attorney general’s office to oversee that case told the Herald-Leader Friday his office has presented the grand jury with “everything we know.”
Russell and Wayne counties commonwealth’s attorney Matthew Leveridge said the criminal investigation into the matter has effectively closed, barring any additional evidence in the case.
That decision by the grand jury Feb. 20 not to indict could pave the way for a civil lawsuit against the city and London Police Department to proceed and may prompt the release of documents explaining why officers were at Harless’ door the night he died.
“We want to know how this happened,” said Kelly Gibson, a former London resident who regularly attends monthly vigils to honor Harless’ life and demand accountability. “We deserve to know.”
Twelve Laurel County officials penned a letter Monday calling for a federal civil rights probe into the shooting.
The Herald-Leader has refiled an open records request to the Kentucky State Police for the original warrant and other information in its investigative file. The police department said in a statement Friday it, too, is awaiting the KSP’s investigative file in order to launch an internal investigation into its officers’ conduct.
Search warrant has been withheld
Harless was shot five times in his doublewide mobile home at 511 Vanzant Road in rural Laurel County shortly before midnight Dec. 23, 2024, after police say he pointed a gun at them while they were conducting a search for stolen lawn equipment.
The original warrant, which has not yet been made public, reportedly lists 489 Vanzant Road, which is where Harless’ house appears on local county property valuation maps.
City officials have said they used those maps and the county’s 911 system to confirm the location, but house numbers at Harless’ unit clearly read “511” and an officer visited the address targeted in the warrant the same day police conducted their raid.
Law enforcement records may be concealed under Kentucky law when disclosure “could pose an articulable risk of harm to the agency or its investigation” by identifying key witnesses or informants. But those records must become public “after enforcement action is completed or a decision is made to take no action.”
“Now that the grand jury has concluded, apparently, that there was no crime committed, then the reason for them withholding that warrant is no longer valid,” said Howard Mann, an attorney representing one of Harless’ daughters in the civil wrongful death suit.
Civil litigation moves forward
The September lawsuit Harless’ daughters filed against the city, police department and officers believed to be there the night their father died accuses the defendants of knowingly or recklessly raiding the wrong home, ignoring obvious signs they were at the wrong address and acting outside their jurisdiction confined to the London city limits.
Attorneys for the city removed the case to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky in October because the complaint involves a federal question related to Harless’ Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures and 14th Amendment rights to due process and equal protection.
The city, police department and its officers have filed motions to dismiss the case, alleging, in part, the plaintiffs failed to state sufficient facts. That lack of information has been a theme in their pursuit of justice, Mann said.
“Any perceived defect in the Complaint is due both to the Defendants’ concealment of the officers’ identities and to the fact that key records, such as the search warrant and investigative report, still have not been released, even though the statute of limitations for the Estate’s claims runs in less than two months,” the plaintiffs said in a response brief filed in November.
The officers who fired on Harless, and any others there that night, have never been officially identified by the city. One detective, Joshua Morgan, was identified last week as part of the grand jury’s proceedings, though it remains unclear what Morgan’s role was in the raid.
Mann said his clients were forced to file their lawsuit in Kentucky because the state’s statute of limitations for claims against government officials acting in their official capacity expires after a year.
The daughters waited as long as they could, he said, because they were waiting for more information to be released.
“Now, finally, hopefully, we can better understand what took place that night,” he said.