Hays County Sheriff’s Office Deputies Cleared In Spoke Hollow Ambush

On November 24, 2017, around 3:30 a.m., Hays County 911 received a call reporting a suspicious person with a handgun in the area of Spoke Hollow in Wimberley, Texas.

The Hays County Criminal District Attorney’s Office announced today that the investigation into the November 24, 2017, shotgun attack on Hays County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) deputies has concluded, and the evidence conclusively establishes that the shooting of Rocky West by HCSO deputies was justified as both self-defense and defense of other officers.

According to investigative reports and evidence collected by the Texas Rangers as well as the HCSO itself (performing parallel investigations), on November 24, 2017, around 3:30 a.m., Hays County 911 received a call reporting a suspicious person with a handgun in the area of Spoke Hollow in Wimberley, Texas.

The caller gave further details including that the person was black and wearing a black hoodie with a bandana over his face. The caller then reported that he had heard breaking glass in the area of Jean’s Antiques and saw someone with a flashlight in the business.

The caller disconnected and did not answer attempts to call back.

Several deputies responded Dep. Adam McLeod, Dep. Brian Bedingfield, and Dep. Benjamin Gieselman. The deputies were unable to find any signs of broken glass or other forced entry into Jean’s Antiques, and then learned that the 911 caller number was identified as associated with Rocky West, a nearby resident, but a different name and address as that given by the caller.

Given the suspicions raised by the call, and the officer’s prior knowledge of Mr. West, the officers determined to approach West’s residence with caution. After being joined by Sgt. Jon Craigmile and Dep. Matthew Abbott, the officers proceeded towards 500 Spoke Hollow, driving clearly marked law enforcement vehicles.

As officers approached the residence, they noted that the house and driveway were completely dark. As the officer began to pull to the roadside near the driveway entrance, West fired six shotgun blasts from behind one of the rock walls framing the driveway entrance.

At least one of these shots shattered Sgt. Craigmile’s passenger side window. Sgt. Craigmile reported, “I was suddenly hit in the face by flying broken glass from my passenger side window.”

The deputies exited their vehicles and attempted to return fire from behind their patrol vehicles in the roadway, as West continued shooting. The exchange of gunfire went on for just over 30 seconds.

During the exchange, Deputy Gieselman received serious, but non-life-threatening, injuries from numerous shotgun pellets that penetrated his upper legs, torso and arms. After Gieselman was hit, he was quickly evacuated from the scene by other deputies.

West was observed to drop behind the rock wall, and officers remaining at the scene believed he had been struck, but could not know whether West was conscious, unconscious, or deceased.

Because officers were unable to approach the area behind the rock wall without exposing themselves to fire from West, they did not discover that he was deceased until a robot was brought in and sent around the wall to observe that West was unmoving.

An autopsy determined that West had died from a gunshot wound to the head. The bullet fragments found at the autopsy were determined to be unsuitable for comparison to determine which specific firearm might have fired the shot that struck West.

No deputy fired prior to the first six shotgun blasts fired by West. Evidence at the scene, including the positions of the vehicles and spent casings and shells indicates that the deputies never entered the property at 500 Spoke Hollow prior to being fired upon, and then returned fire only from the roadway.

Vehicle damage and the type and amount of ammunition found next to West’s body indicates that West was attempting to inflict lethal damage on the deputies, as he possessed not only shot shells such as the one that struck Gieselman, but also slugs that punched large holes fully through the door of Sgt. Craigmile’s vehicle and entered the passenger compartment.

West fired without warning, from darkness and concealment behind the stone wall. Investigators recovered at least 11 fired shotgun shells from behind the rock wall.

The deputies involved took fire from ambush, could not know whether they were dealing with one shooter or more, or what types of weapons the shooter(s) possessed, at night in surroundings that offered multiple areas of concealment for attackers firing on targets in the road.

Any reasonable officer, finding him or herself in such a trap, would have feared death or serious bodily injury for himself and his or her fellow officers.

A Hays County grand jury reviewed the case on August 15, 2018, and found no evidence of wrongdoing by the officers.

The Hays County Criminal District Attorney agreed that all of the officers who employed deadly force in this case did so justifiably under the law and reasonably with respect to the circumstances.

Moreover, rather than flee in the face of a deadly threat, the officers performed their duty and risked their own lives to deal with the threat before additional harm could come to other officers or citizens.