Hannah Fizer Sedalia woman shot dead by Pettits County deputy. Did a Missouri woman pull a gun on a cop after running a red light? A family seek answers.
Disconcert has come to the fore after a Missouri woman was shot dead by a sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop over the weekend —with the woman’s family questioning authorities’ claims that their daughter threatened to shoot the officer first.
Hannah Renee Fizer, 25, was driving on her way to work Saturday night in Sedalia when she ran a red light and was stopped, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Authorities say Fizer told the Pettits County deputy she had a gun and threatened to shoot him — prompting the officer to open fire on her. She died a short time later.
The woman’s father, John Fizer, who conceded his daughter, ‘was not a perfect angel by any means,’ claims that Hannah never carried a gun — and he doesn’t believe she would have become aggressive with the officer.
‘She liked to drink and smoke a little weed sometimes, but by no means was she violent,’ her father told via the Kansas City Star. ‘She was the kind of person that wouldn’t hesitate to give a homeless person $10.’
Previous arrests
Her stepmother, Lori Fizer, also said she never knew Hannah to carry a weapon.
‘We need to know exactly how everything went down,’ Lori told the media outlet. ‘She weighed a whole 145 pounds and she was by herself.’
Hannah Fizer pleaded guilty in April to possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana, a misdemeanor. And she pleaded guilty in March to misdemeanor driving while intoxicated.
Hannah’s father claims the 25 year old respected law enforcement and at one point considered trying to become a police or parole officer.
Authorities said it’s still unclear whether Hannah had a gun, noting a warrant to search the car was still pending.
Fizer’s boyfriend, James Johnson, told The Kansas City Star that Fizer wasn’t armed when she left their place shortly before driving to work.
Patrol Sgt. Andy Bell said there was no available dashboard camera or body camera footage of the fatal encounter.
Latest fatal shooting at hands of police
The shooting comes amid increased scrutiny of officer-involved killings since the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Floyd was a black man who died after a white police officer pressed a knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes even after he pleaded for air and eventually stopped moving. Both Fizer and the deputy who shot her were white.
The deputy, who has worked for Pettis County since 2007, has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, authorities said. The department has not had any previous complaints against the officer, KRCG13 reports.
The deputy’s name has not been publicly released.
Sedalia, is a city of 21,700 residents about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southeast of Kansas City.
