GRAND JUNCTION, CO — Two Grand Junction police officers will not face charges in the fatal shooting of 31-year-old Patti Wilson outside a Dairy Queen on June 12, according to a 37-page investigative report released Saturday.
The review says officers Zachary Diaz and Tim Long believed Wilson posed an immediate danger to them and to nearby members of the public. Investigators concluded their use of deadly force was legally justified in defense of themselves and others.
The findings close one part of a case that began with a violent encounter at the business and ended with Wilson dead after a chain of crashes and a police shooting in the parking lot.
Report says officers believed Wilson was trying to hit them with her car
The report says Wilson had stabbed a victim inside the Dairy Queen moments before the shooting. It also says she was driving recklessly in the parking lot when officers confronted her.
Investigators wrote that it appeared she was trying to strike Diaz and Long with her vehicle before they fired. That threat assessment was central to the decision not to file criminal charges.
In the report’s words, the evidence did not establish that either officer committed a criminal offense. The review specifically said the officers’ actions met the legal standard for defense of themselves and others.
What happened in the parking lot before Wilson drove away
According to the investigation, Wilson’s vehicle then crashed into another car while she was leaving the parking lot. After that collision, she drove off down North Avenue.
Her flight did not end there. The report says the vehicle later stopped after striking multiple cars west of North First Street and North Avenue, and one truck was flipped over in the process.
The sequence described in the report shows how quickly the scene escalated from a stabbing inside the restaurant to a hazardous series of collisions on nearby streets.
Critical Incident Response Team handled the shooting review
The Critical Incident Response Team investigated the officer-involved shooting. The report released Saturday is the formal result of that review and explains why prosecutors did not pursue charges against the officers.
The finding is limited to the conduct of Diaz and Long during the shooting itself. It does not change the fact that the broader incident included a stabbing, a dangerous vehicle pursuit through the parking lot and multiple crashes afterward.
Officials have not indicated any criminal charges tied to the shooting for either officer, and the report makes clear that investigators viewed the deadly force as justified under the circumstances they reviewed.
June 12 incident left a deadly trail across North Avenue
The June 12 episode began at a fast-food restaurant and spread outward across a busy part of Grand Junction. By the end, one woman was dead, another person had been stabbed, and several vehicles had been struck.
Investigators say the danger was not confined to the original confrontation inside the Dairy Queen. The report describes a fast-moving situation in which officers believed they were confronting an armed and reckless suspect in a public parking lot.
That larger context helped shape the final conclusion that the officers’ actions were lawful, because the threat they faced was not speculative. Investigators said it was immediate and directed at both the officers and people nearby.
Why the report matters for Grand Junction residents
The release of the 37-page report gives the public the most detailed account so far of how the fatal encounter unfolded. It also explains why the officers will not be charged after the shooting drew scrutiny in the community.
For residents, the case offers a record of how investigators reconstructed the timeline from the stabbing inside the restaurant to the vehicle crashes outside. The report concludes that the officers responded to a dangerous and rapidly developing threat.
With the review finished, the central official finding is now on record: prosecutors and investigators did not find criminal liability for Diaz or Long in Wilson’s death.
Key timeline from the Dairy Queen shooting
The report lays out a short but violent sequence. Wilson stabbed a victim inside the Dairy Queen, got into her vehicle, and drove recklessly in the parking lot as officers responded.
Investigators say Diaz and Long believed she was trying to hit them with the car. Wilson then struck another vehicle, drove away on North Avenue, and later crashed into multiple cars west of North First Street and North Avenue, flipping a truck.
The shooting review concludes that the officers’ deadly force was justified because they were acting in defense of themselves and others during that series of events.
