An investigation by the Delaware Office of the Attorney General found a state trooper’s use of force was justified in the shooting death of a Seaford woman, the department announced last week. The case is the subject of a separate lawsuit filed by the family.
Trooper Dean Johnson shot and killed 51-year-old Kelly Rooks on March 25, 2021. He was dispatched following a called 911 she made claiming she’d been poisoned by neighbors and needed to go to the hospital, according to the attorney general’s report. While he was there, she pulled out a gun, the report says.
“Based upon the evidence available, we conclude that Trooper Johnson reasonably felt in fear for his own life, and the lives of others when Rooks asked, ‘Which one of you pigs wants to die tonight,’ and then raised and fired a gun at Trooper Johnson,” the report states.
The investigation’s purpose was solely to determine whether Johnson’s use of force was lawful. Meanwhile, a lawsuit filed in July 2021 by Kelly Rooks’ brother and mother, Raymond and Geraldine Rooks, claims two counts of excessive force, assault and battery, gross negligence and wrongful death by Johnson and Delaware State Police.
Two police vehicle camera recordings were provided in the report, but neither of the cameras was facing the home. Johnson’s vehicle camera recording was not provided.
According to Department of Justice spokesman Mat Marshal, none of the officers on scene at the time of the incident were wearing body cameras. Delaware State Police began using body cameras in 2016 but never fully implemented them. A law passed last year will soon require all Delaware police to wear body cameras.
Delaware State Police declined to comment on the attorney general’s report except to say they conducted their own investigation and that Johnson is still employed by the agency.
BACKGROUND:Seaford woman called police for help; one who responded shot her dead
The Rooks family also declined to comment through their lawyers. Patrick Gallagher and Raeann Warner of Jacobs & Crumplar are representing the family, and said in an April 2021 statement Johnson “fired through a closed door, killing (Kelly Rooks).”
“As her family, we have serious concerns about the circumstances of Kelly’s death, and we insist upon a credible investigation to uncover the truth. As a human being, she deserved better,” the family said in the same statement.
Kelly Rooks’ bipolar disorder qualified her as disabled, according to the lawsuit. She was diagnosed after a car accident a few years ago, the lawsuit says, but she had no violent criminal record as an adult.
Findings by the attorney general
During the week leading up to March 25, Kelly Rooks called 911 several times and showed up at Troop 5 in Bridgeville twice, according to the attorney general’s report. She had been “saying that the neighbors were entering her house and stealing from her,” according to the report.
A mobile crisis team was twice deployed to assist Rooks that week, according to the report.
The night of March 25, just before she called 911, Kelly Rooks “suddenly started screaming and saying she had been poisoned,” Geraldine Rooks said in her interview with the attorney general’s office.
Johnson responded to the Rooks’ Danny Drive home in Seaford at about 7:15 p.m.
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The first of the two responding EMTs said Kelly Rooks seemed confused and non-compliant, according to the report. She did not know the date and appeared to be in an altered mental state, the first EMT said, and she was, therefore, unable to sign a patient refusal form. Johnson said she told them she had smoked her medical marijuana and believed she may have overdosed, according to the report.
A post-mortem toxicology report later found she had benzodiazepines and cannabinoids in her system.
The EMTs told her she needed to go to the hospital, but she “refused and she grew agitated with their presence as well as the presence of the Delaware State Police,” the report says.
At some point, Kelly Rooks went to her bedroom. Her boyfriend, Robert Krause, who is wheelchair-bound, came out of the same bedroom and said Rooks was “crazy” and “needed to go to the hospital,” the report says.
Two other Delaware State Police officers, Trooper Jermaine Cannon and Cpl. Brandon Yencer, then arrived at the home.
According to the report, Kelly Rooks grabbed a gun, later determined to be a shotgun, “from behind the wall.” According to the lawsuit, she faced the open door with the shotgun in her hand, pointing it toward the ceiling.
Only one EMT was in the house, at that point, and was able to exit, according to the report. Krause then went back into the bedroom and shut the door, while Johnson radioed that Kelly Rooks had a gun and a possible hostage, according to the report.
According to Trooper Cannon’s interview with the attorney general’s office, he entered and saw Johnson aiming his gun at the bedroom door, issuing commands to put the gun down. The door was cracked, but what was happening inside the bedroom was unclear to him, according to the report.
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Cannon “grabbed” the then-78-year-old Geraldine Rooks and “removed her from the home,” according to his interview with the attorney general’s office and she “stumbled over the coffee table as he took her outside.”
However, Geraldine Rooks’ told the attorney general’s office it was Johnson who “threw her on the floor” and, later, while she was still on the floor, she was “dragged out of the residence,” according to the report.
She broke her hip during the incident, the lawsuit states.
Around this time, Krause came out of the bedroom and said he had unloaded the gun and that police needed to leave, according to the report, but Johnson told him they could not. Krause didn’t want to leave the house, so Cpl. Yencer wheeled him out, according to the report.
As Johnson shouted for Kelly Rooks to “exit the room and put (her) hands up” and “drop the gun,” according to the report, he though he heard her pick up the gun. During this exchange, the report says, Kelly Rooks said more than once, “Which one of you pigs wants to die tonight?”
Johnson told the attorney general’s office her statement sent a “shockwave of fear through me that I’ve never experienced in my life,” and said he responded, “Come out with your hands up, we’ll get you to a hospital,” according to the report.
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Johnson said Kelly Rooks then opened the door, raised the gun toward him and fired a shot, striking the floor in front of him, the report says. Johnson said he fired back and she fell backward onto a bed, but got up and started advancing toward him again, still holding the gun, according to the report. Johnson said that when he fired again, she fell backward and the door closed behind her, according to the report.
When Johnson said over the radio that he was unable to see Rooks, the responding police supervisor ordered everyone out of the house and a perimeter was established, according to the report.
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Kelly Rooks’ autopsy showed she died from multiple gunshot wounds. She was shot in her shoulder, twice in her abdomen and twice in her left thigh.
“Trooper Johnson reasonably believed that the use of deadly force upon Rooks was immediately necessary for the purpose of protecting himself and others,” the report says.
Johnson saw her bring out the firearm, but did not fire immediately, the report points out. He didn’t use force until force was used against him, according to the report.
What the Rooks family lawsuit contends
The lawsuit, scheduled to go to trial in 2023, argues Johnson “escalated and provoked an otherwise static situation by his reckless tactical response.”
Upon seeing Kelly Rooks grab the gun, Johnson should have sought cover and a crisis team or trained negotiator should have been employed, according to the lawsuit.
Johnson knew of Kelly Rooks’ mental disability, the lawsuit says. He responded to one of her calls once before and was “hostile and aggressive towards Kelly,” the complaint states. The attorney general’s report makes no mention of whether Johnson had any prior interaction with her.
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It also makes no mention of whether Kelly Rooks was shot through a closed door, a focal point of the lawsuit, which says the door behind which she was standing had three bullet holes in it. A photo from the report shows what appears to be three markers in the door.
“Based upon the angles of the bullet holes, the door was closed or closing when (Johnson) shot,” the lawsuit states. The ballistics report included in the attorney general’s report does not mention bullet holes in the door.
In fact, the only people who saw Johnson and Kelly Rooks exchange gunfire were Johnson and Kelly Rooks, according to the report and the lawsuit. Cannon said he saw the bedroom door open, heard shots fired, then saw the door shut, but neither he nor Yencer saw the shots fired, according to the report.
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