On a summer evening in Ankeny, Iowa, a series of troubling text messages set in motion a tragic chain of events. On July 5, 2014, 59-year-old Marilyn Denise Ambrose Boyd, a White female, sent what would be her final communications to her son, expressing her love for him and her grandchildren and indicating she had "nothing more to live for." Alarmed, her son's wife promptly called 911, informing the dispatcher that Boyd was suicidal and had a handgun.
Police officers were dispatched to
Boyd's residence on Southwest Springfield Drive for a welfare check. Upon arrival, they found Boyd inside, armed with a semi-automatic firearm. According to police reports, officers repeatedly commanded her to drop the weapon. When she did not comply and instead pointed the gun in the direction of the officers, Ankeny Police Officer Aaron King fired his weapon, striking Boyd.
Paramedics transported Marilyn Boyd to a local hospital, but she ultimately succumbed to two gunshot wounds. An autopsy later revealed that her blood alcohol content was 0.145 at the time she was admitted to the hospital. The investigation into the shooting was handled by the Ankeny Police Department, and the case was set to be presented to a grand jury for review.
In the aftermath of the shooting, Marilyn Boyd's family filed a civil lawsuit against Officer Aaron King, the Ankeny Police Chief, and the City of Ankeny, alleging a violation of her constitutional rights. However, the court granted summary judgment to the defendants. The ruling stated that the officer's use of deadly force was objectively reasonable under the circumstances, given that they were responding to a report of a suicidal and armed individual who failed to obey commands to disarm and subsequently raised her weapon toward an officer. No criminal charges were filed against Officer King.
