Soobleej Kaub Hawj, 35, of Kansas City, Kansas, was driving a pickup loaded with 132 pounds (about 60 kg) of cannabis and firearms when he ignored orders to turn west onto County Road A-12 at a checkpoint near Big Springs on the night of 24 June 2021[1][2]. Officers were evacuating residents as the lightning-sparked Lava Fire threatened the rural area near the California-Oregon border, close to thousands of unlicensed greenhouses[1][2].
Conflicting accounts
Officers say Hawj panicked and fired at them, and that they returned fire, hitting him in the head, chest, arms and legs; they reported finding a loaded .45-calibre pistol on his lap and more rifles afterwards[1]. Witnesses gave conflicting accounts, said more than 60 shots were fired, and noted that dash-cam footage was not released, prompting a national outcry over possible anti-Asian bias[1].
Officers cleared
District Attorney Kirk Andrus cleared the four officers, from the sheriff’s office, Etna police and Fish and Wildlife, in a nine-page letter on 14 June 2022, finding the shooting legally justified[1][2]. He wrote that the checkpoint existed only to move people from the flames, not to search for marijuana, and that Hawj may wrongly have believed evacuees were being searched[1]. Hawj also faced an arrest warrant in Mesa County, Colorado, on a cannabis and gun charge[1].
