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41-year-old Jason Kloepfer released a distressing video of himself being shot by police officers on December 13, 2022. On Friday, Kloepfer uploaded the video along with images showing his injuries on Facebook. The cops allegedly suspected that Jason Kloepfer had taken someone hostage before shooting him.
According to an initial press release, Jason got into a verbal spat with the cops before “confronting” them. This allegedly then forced the SWAT team to fire shots at him. However, the newly released footage does not corroborate the previous story. The footage captured Kloepfer and his wife Alison waking up from their sleep after the officers tossed a robotic device into their trailer.
Jason Kloepfer was injured due to gunshot injuries and thus could not move freely. He did not reveal any further details about the case, but described the charges against him for allegedly confronting the officers as “completely wrong.”
Trigger Warning: The following video contains disturbing content. Viewers' discretion is advised.
Jason Kloepfer believes charges against him are “completely wrong”
On December 13, 2022, 41-year-old Jason Kloepfer was shot by a North Carolina SWAT team. He, recently, uploaded the footage to Facebook, capturing the shootout in a mobile van in December. Graphic images showing the injuries that he sustained have also been revealed.
The footage changed the existing narrative set during the initial press conference. According to the press conference, Jason Kloepfer got into a verbal argument with the officers and also “confronted” them, which forced them to shoot him multiple times.
However, the narrative changed when the distressing video surfaced on the internet. It showed that Jason and his wife were asleep when the SWAT team tossed a robotic device inside their mobile van. This woke the couple up and Alison was then heard saying:
“What’s going on?”
Soon after that, a male officer’s voice could be heard saying:
“Step outside the door onto the deck and show us your hands! Jason, we just want to talk to you. Come outside.”
Jason Kloepfer followed the order and opened the front door with his hands up. Shortly after, a few rounds of gunfire were heard, and the 41-year-old yelled:
“I’m shot!”
Jason’s wife could be heard shouting at the SWAT team while her husband sustained several gunshot injuries to his torso. She asked:
“What the hell did you do?!”
The officers ordered the couple to come out of the trailer, to which they replied that Jason was injured and couldn’t move. The 41-year-old then dragged himself near the door and said:
“I don’t have a gun! I didn’t have a gun!”
Moments after that, the officers entered the trailer, and one of them could be heard saying “start working on” Jason. They discovered that he was shot in the chest. One of the officers was further heard saying:
“F**k, bro, f**k!”
Another officer seemed to talk to his colleague and warn him about the cameras in the trailer. Jason was rushed to Erlanger Hospital in Tennessee and was declared to be in a stable state. He was then charged with communicating threats, resisting, obstructing, and delaying. However, he mentioned that the charges were “completely wrong.”
He said:
"I can't talk to much about details right now as this is major major case still evolving. But like I said 5 weeks ago, trust me the news is completely wrong and so are my charges."
Authorities have not revealed the nature of Jason's disability
Soon after the video was uploaded, Cherokee County Sheriff Dustin Smith stated:
“Since the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office does not have a tactical team to handle a hostage event, I requested assistance from the Cherokee Indian Police Department SWAT Team. Subsequently, members of CIPD SWAT fired shots at an individual who emerged from the home, injuring him.”
Jason Kloepfer was identified as disabled; however, the nature of his disability was not revealed on public platforms. He recalled the tragic incident and said:
“This has been and still is a horrible nightmare we are trying to get thru. We will make it thru.”
Smith further stated that he gave the initial press release talking about the alleged confrontation on Jason’s part, without knowing what had transpired in the trailer. He further added that since he wasn’t present on the scene, the department believed and relied on the information that was then available.
