A coroner's inquest jury has unanimously ruled a Metro Police officer was justified in the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Tanner Chamberlain back on September 29th. Officer Derek Colling shot Chamberlain in the head after police responded to a domestic dispute at an apartment complex on Vegas Valley Drive. Police say Chamberlain was holding his mother hostage at knifepoint and refused to comply with orders to drop the knife before he was shot. During the inquest Friday morning, the jury viewed a 10-second video of the incident, which reportedly showed Chamberlain holding a knife behind his mother while pulling her backward, then falling to the ground after a gunshot is heard. Jurors also heard an audiotape made by police right after the incident, in which Chamberlain's mother said her son had choked, punched, and kicked her before officers arrived. The mother later criticized the shooting, claiming her life was never in danger and that her son was bipolar. She was not in court for the inquest hearing.
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