Special prosecutor will decide charges in Missouri shooting

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SEDALIA, Mo. (AP) – A special prosecutor will decide whether a central Missouri sheriff’s deputy will be charged in the shooting death of a woman he had stopped for a traffic violation.

The deputy shot Hannah Fizer on June 13 in Sedalia. He told investigators she had a gun and threatened to kill him but the Missouri State Highway Patrol said no gun was found in the car.

The patrol delivered its report on the shooting to Pettis County Prosecutor Phillip Sawyer last week, and he announced Tuesday that he had asked for a special prosecutor so the families involved and the county will know the death was investigated by someone with no ties to “the jurisdiction that I serve,” The Kansas City Star reported.

Stephen Sokoloff, general counsel for the Missouri Office of Prosecution Services, was appointed to the case. Sawyer said he expected it to take some time for Sokoloff to review the case.

Fizer’s friends and family say she was driving to work at the time of the shooting. They have questioned the deputy’s version of events, saying Fizer did not own a gun and was not a violent person.

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