Johnson County Deputy Terry Stotler was justified when he shot and killed John Deng, a report by the Iowa Attorney General’s Office concludes.

Deputy Attorney General Thomas H. Miller released the report at a Sept. 25 media conference. It details the findings of his investigation into the July 24 incident.

That evening, police said, Stotler shot and killed Deng after Deng stabbed John Bohnenkamp on the 300 block of Prentiss Street.

“The evidence establishes that Deputy Stotler, at the moment that he discharged his handgun, reasonably believed that John Deng was within an instant of stabbing John Bohnenkamp a second time,” the report stated.

Since the shooting, community sentiment has ranged from support for Stotler to outrage over the issue of ethnicity and questions about why the deputy had to shoot to kill.

And many community members at the conference remained unconvinced of the report’s findings.

Vershawn Young, a UI rhetoric associate professor and new member of the Police Citizen’s Review Board, said the report is “immensely contradictory.”

— by Regina Zilbermints