Grand Jury Deliberates On Downtown Shooting In Amarillo

Police involved in a downtown shooting on Polk Street in Amarillo were evaluated by a grand jury in Potter Country on Wednesday. It is expected that they will be found having done 'no wrong doing'.

Potter County grand jurors met Wednesday to consider whether four city policemen acted appropriately when they fired 40 shots at an SUV, killing an Amarillo man during an early-morning melee on Polk Street.

Citing sealed grand jury proceedings, Randall Sims, the 47th District Attorney, along with authorities refused to disclose the outcome. That is expected to be revealed during a news conference this afternoon, authorities said.

Potter-Randall Special Crimes investigators spent months sifting through the Jan. 30 incident and presented their findings to the 47th District Attorney's Office. The investigation was then presented to the grand jury to determine whether the officers acted appropriately.

At about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, more than a dozen Amarillo police officers, including police Chief Robert Taylor, Special Crimes Lt. Gary Trupe and at least two officers involved in the shooting that killed Claudio Trujillo, 24, of Amarillo, walked out of the Potter County District Courts Building.

The drama unfolded early Jan. 30 as revelers crowded the street after bars along Polk closed. Police said officers began firing at Trujillo's sport utility vehicle after he refused their demands to stop. Passengers in Trujillo's vehicle said they were fleeing from gunshots fired during a brawl in the parking lot.

Two of the officers - Cole Thurman and Dewayne Griffin - seen leaving the courthouse Wednesday were among those who fired that morning. Griffin stopped at one point Wednesday to shake someone's hand as he made his way out of the courthouse.

Jesse Quackenbush, the attorney hired by the Trujillo family following the shooting, said he doesn't yet know the outcome. He anticipated that it would be what's known as a "no bill," meaning that jurors have found officers innocent of wrongdoing. He said he plans to file a civil lawsuit next week.