The Gem County Prosecuting Attorney Erick B. Thomson, determined that the actions of the Boise Police officer who shot Guadalupe Reyes on November 10, 2024, were justifiable under the law.
The prosecutor reviewed the officers’ on-body video as well as the complete investigation conducted by the Ada County Critical Incident Task Force (CITF) led by the Ada County Sheriff’s Office.
A brief description of the event from the Prosecuting Attorney is included below and the entire letter is available here.
On November 10, 2024, dispatch received a call that Reyes was in his apartment and making threats to kill his neighbor. Additional information was given to officers that Reyes was recently released from the hospital after a suicide threat, pouring gasoline over his head and lighting himself on fire. In addition, they were told that Reyes was holding his neighbor hostage in his apartment, threatening to kill him, and had already stabbed him. Officers arrived at XXXX N Hartman Street #XX. Phone calls to Reyes, as well as attempts to contact him through a public address system were unsuccessful. After hearing commotion in the apartment, the door opened and a male with a blood wound exited. Unsure if this was the victim or suspect, officers detained him just outside the apartment threshold. BPD Officer Strodtbeck was at the threshold as well. Strodtbeck opened the door and announced, “Boise Police. Anyone call out to me and make yourself known.” He then immediately followed with, “Don’t move” and began falling backward as Reyes approached him in the doorway wielding a knife. Strodtbeck fired on Reyes, who fell outside the apartment on the landing. Life-saving measures were provided but ultimately unsuccessful.
Idaho Codes 19-202A and 18-4011 both apply to this situation. Applying the facts of this case to those statutes, Strodtbeck was justified in his action and Idaho law would not allow the criminal prosecution of Strodtbeck. As Reyes had recently been suicidal and just held a man hostage and apparently stabbed him, Strodtbeck rightly felt that he was in danger when Reyes ignored his commands and approached him at the threshold with his knife wielded. It is this office’s opinion that no criminal charges shall be filed.
The public CITF report is available here under the date November 10, 2024.
A video report, with on-body camera video, is available here. The full-length version of the on-body video used to create the linked video report is available upon request free of charge through BPD’s public records request process.
As with all critical incidents, the Boise Police Department conducts an administrative investigation. The City of Boise Office of Police Accountability (OPA) also performs an independent review and issues a public report.
BPD has reviewed the OPA report and its recommendations. BPD’s internal review made very similar recommendations, and BPD continues to enhance its training and procedures. The OPA report is expected to be released publicly today.