By Sally Krutzig
The Idaho Statesman
BOISE, Idaho — A man who was shot and killed by police after stabbing two dogs and refusing to comply with law enforcement in a Southwest Boise neighborhood has been identified.
The Ada County Coroner’s Office said Wednesday that the man was 37-year-old Jeremiah Gaver, whose name might ring a bell because of his family’s history in Boise and involvement in a police shooting in Arizona eight years ago. The coroner listed his cause of death as multiple gunshot wounds and the manner as homicide.
The Ada County Sheriff’s Office provided further information about the incident through a news release on Wednesday afternoon.
The office said one of its deputies on patrol saw a man with a tarp over him at 12:30 a.m. Wednesday. He was holding a cane and “looking over fences into the backyards of homes” on South Maverick Way, just south of Amity Avenue west of the Boise Airport, the release said.
“The deputy talked to the man, who refused to identify himself, explain what he was doing, or remove his hand from underneath the tarp,” the sheriff’s office said.
Additional sheriff deputies and Boise Police Department officers arrived and continued attempting to speak with Gaver.
The sheriff’s office said deputies warned him “numerous times that if he didn’t comply, deputies would use a less-lethal beanbag rifle and a K9 dog to get him into custody.”
The deputy informed Gaver that he needed to comply for the last time at 1 a.m., according to the release. When he didn’t, a deputy fired a beanbag round that “did not subdue him,” the sheriff’s office said.
Another deputy sent an Ada County Sheriff’s Office K9 dog at Gaver, who stabbed the dog and ran “toward an open field to the east” while law enforcement pursued him, officials said.
Law enforcement then saw that he was holding a knife. Gaver refused to drop it despite deputies telling him to do so multiple times, the sheriff’s office said.
Law enforcement pursued Gaver to a gas station on the east side of the Cole and Amity intersection, where they deployed Tasers, “which didn’t knock him down at first, but he fell over a few moments later,” according to the release.
Boise police then sent a second K9 at the man. Gaver “stabbed the dog multiple times and then turned toward the officers,” according to the release.
The sheriff’s office said five members of law enforcement — four deputies and one Boise officer — fired their guns at Gaver.
After the area was secured, paramedics took Gaver to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, where doctors pronounced him dead in the emergency room after life-saving measures were unsuccessful, according to the sheriff’s and coroner’s offices.
None of the law enforcement members involved were injured, the sheriff’s office confirmed. In accordance with standard procedure, the five who fired their weapons have been placed on administrative leave.
Both dogs were “badly injured,” and more information on their condition will be provided at a later time, the sheriff’s office said.
The Ada County Critical Incident Task Force, led by the Meridian Police Department, is investigating the shooting.
Wednesday’s police shooting was not the first with which Gaver was involved.
The man was previously a member of Matthew 24 Now, a Christian family band once known for busking on the sidewalks near the Albertsons store at 17th and State Streets, the Idaho Statesman previously reported.
The Gavers made national headlines after seven family members were arrested for starting a fight at an Arizona Walmart in 2015 that escalated to the point of members assaulting police officers.
The incident began when one of the family members shoved a store employee as she attempted to enter a Walmart restroom, the Idaho Statesman previously reported.
When police responded, family members attacked officers in the parking lot. A video of the fight showed members of the Gaver family punching, kicking and disarming officers, while police used Tasers, batons and pepper spray on them, NBC reported.
One police officer was shot in the leg, while a Walmart employee and seven other police officers suffered minor injuries, according to investigators.
David Gaver, 18, was shot in the abdomen and was treated at a hospital before being arrested. Enoch Gaver, 21, was shot to death by police during the fight.
Jeremiah Gaver was charged with four counts of aggravated assault, two counts of resisting arrest, two counts of hindering prosecution, one count of riot, one count of assault and three counts of disorderly conduct. His legal case went through many iterations and involved competency evaluations, but online Arizona court records show that it was eventually dismissed without prejudice in April 2020.
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