A photo of the bullet holes in Giovonn Joseph McDades car after his shooting death.
A photo of the bullet holes in Giovonn Joseph-McDade's car after his shooting death. Kent Police Department

The officer who last month pursued Giovonn Joseph-McDade before another backup officer fatally shot the 20-year-old student wrongly suspected that McDade's car was stolen, new documents released by the Kent Police Department show.

The trove of records, including videos, interviews and photographs, includes a statement from Officer Matthew Rausch saying he observed "suspicious behavior" before pursuing McDade. During that pursuit, officers twice attempted to cause McDade's vehicle to spin to a stop before Officer William Davis exited his patrol car and pointed his weapon at McDade's car. Both officers claim McDade accelerated in Davis' direction before the officer fired the fatal shots through the windshield.

Officer Matthew Rausch's written statement offers new insight into the timeline of events that lead up to the fatal shooting. Shortly after midnight in the early morning of June 24, Rausch saw McDade's Honda at an AMPM gas station while on patrol. Rausch, who has served in Kent for two years, said he saw two men in the car. A third man approached the vehicle and "had a scared look on his face" after turning and seeing the officer. The man then entered the vehicle in the back passenger seat.

"I know based on my training and experience that 1990's-early 2000s sedans are commonly stolen vehicles," Officer Rausch continued. "Vehicle theft is a significant problem in Kent." Rausch ran the plates and found that they had expired, and the registration had been cancelled.

"After reviewing the information available, it appears the response of Officers Davis and Rausch were appropriate in light of this quickly evolving and dangerous situation, and I fully support their actions," Kent Police Chief Ken Thomas said in a statement attached to the released information.

Kent Police released the records at the request of McDade's family. An affidavit for a search warrant of the Honda filed in King County Superior Court showed that it was registered to McDade, and not stolen, though it needed updated plates.

After McDade pulled away from the pumps, Rausch started to follow the Honda. Rausch said in his written statement that the driver appeared to be a white male, possibly Hispanic. (McDade was of black and Pakistani descent.) Rausch noted that McDade turned his head around to see what the police car was doing before quickly turning around and pulling back up to a pump; Rausch chalked this up to "odd" behavior. McDade, Rausch said, "appeared as if he was trying to avoid being stopped or confronted by me."

McDade stepped out of the car, leaving its two passengers. At that point, Rausch said, he believed the occupants of the Honda "were behaving very strangely" and thought he was witnessing a "hand-to-hand narcotics sale." One man in the back of the car eventually got out and left the scene.

Rausch continued to follow the car after it turned into an Applebee's parking lot, and announced to dispatch that he was making a traffic stop and turned on his overhead lights. McDade stepped out of his car to face Rausch, who also exited his car. Rausch then instructed McDade to get back in his car, and McDade complied. After that, Rausch called for backup, and said McDade backed up and quickly accelerated out of the parking lot.

Des Moines police investigators have already described what happened next: That after two attempted Precision Immobilization Technique (PIT) maneuvers from the police, Officer Rausch and a newly named Officer William Davis, who had been on the force for five years, pursued McDade and his passenger, Devonte Cheeks, until they arrived at a cul de sac. Rausch said McDade accelerated towards Davis, who had exited his car and pointed his gun at McDade's Honda. Davis said that he feared he would be run over and fired his weapon twice.

Investigators also conducted interviews with Devonte Cheeks, the 20-year-old passenger of the car, a resident of one of the homes in the cul de sac who witnessed the shooting, and Annamarie Decker, a police trainee riding with Officer Davis.

Decker told officers that she thought Davis was going to be hit by the car, but Cheeks told officers that he thought McDade was "definitely trying to go around" Davis, and didn't think "Giovonn would have hit a cop on purpose." Hong Pham, the witness who lived in a nearby home, said he couldn't remember if it looked like the officer was about to be struck.

Watch the reenactment with Cheeks below.