Kent officer reaches settlement in Kansas fatal shooting suit

A Kent Police officer reached a wrongful death settlement in federal court with the mother of the man he shot during a mental health crisis in 2022 while with the Olathe Police Department in Kansas.

U.S. District Court Judge Julie Robinson approved the wrongful death settlement July 23 between Officer Conner Thompson and the city of Olathe with Maria Varnas, the mother of Brandon Lynch, 27, shot inside his home. Both parties agreed to keep the amount of the settlement private.

The case had a jury trial date in September, but is now over with the settlement. Varnas filed the wrongful death lawsuit in 2024.

Thompson and the city of Olathe denied liability and continue to deny liability, according to U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas documents.

Kent Police Chief Rafael Padilla said in a Kent Reporter story in January that he was aware of the shooting and the lawsuit when he hired Thompson in September 2024 following his resignation in July 2024 after five years with the Olathe Police. Padilla said in a July 28 email that he didn’t have detailed information about the settlement between Thompson, the city of Olathe and Varnas, but he shared his thoughts about civil lawsuits in general against police departments.

“I am not surprised that a settlement was reached,” Padilla said. “As I noted when you (Kent Reporter) asked about Officer Thompson back in January, civil lawsuits are almost always filed following an officer involved shooting regardless of the circumstances. I have experienced lawsuits that have been filed against officers, despite the most clear and irrefutable evidence that their actions were appropriate and necessary.”

Padilla, who became Kent Police chief in 2018, said a lot of thought goes into whether to settle these type of lawsuits.

“When government entities choose to settle lawsuits, most times that decision isn’t made because there was wrongdoing,” Padilla said. “Most times, the decision comes down to a calculated financial risk. The expense of defending a lawsuit alone, even if you are successful, usually runs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“We are talking about taxpayer money at stake here, so cities like the city of Kent have an obligation to carefully analyze and consider the decision to take a lawsuit all the way to a jury trial or settle. When the calculated risk indicates paying a settlement is far less expensive than defending a winnable case, and the settlement would remove the threat of losing potentially millions of dollars more. … Decision makers must consider settling the lawsuit as potentially being the appropriate way to resolve the matter.

“These aren’t easy decisions and in my experience it puts the decision makers in the hard spot of having to settle when they would much rather defend against the erroneous lawsuit.”

The city of Kent paid $4.4 million in 2021 to the parents of Giovonn Joesph-McDade. The family filed a civil rights wrongful death lawsuit after a Kent Police officer fatally shot the 20-year-old man in 2017 after a short pursuit. The officer claimed that Joseph-McDade tried to run him over when he stood outside his vehicle so he fired multiple shots. An investigation by Des Moines Police justified the shooting. The pursuit began because of an expired license plate tab.

In another case in Johnson County, Kansas, the city of Overland Park settled a wrongful death lawsuit for $2.3 million paid in 2019 to the mother of a 17-year-old boy fatally shot by an Overland Park Police officer in 2018. Police responded to a welfare check and an officer fired his weapon 13 times as the teen backed a minivan out of the family’s garage, according to nbcnews.com. The officer claimed he thought he was going to be run over. Police had responded to other domestic incidents involving the teen and knew he “potentially had mental health issues,” according to a federal complaint filed by the family against the city.

Similar to each of those shootings, police investigations justified the shooting by Thompson. The Olathe Police Department and a Johnson County district attorney determined the shooting by Thompson as justified.

The civil lawsuit filed by the mother of Lynch and her attorneys alleged Thompson “recklessly created the situation resulting in use of excessive and deadly force” by continuing to “shout at, threaten, and agitate (Lynch), a person with known behavioral and mental health symptoms, when no one was in danger.”

The Olathe Police and Thompson tried to get the lawsuit filed against them dismissed.

Judge Robinson, however, ruled late last year that the suit could continue.

“These allegations, accepted as true, state a plausible claim that Officer Thompson recklessly or deliberately brought about the need to use deadly force,” Robinson wrote in court documents. “Moreover, the officers’ attempts to use their Taser—a means of nonlethal force—while Lynch ‘plainly display[ed] that he was in mental health crisis’ can also be seen as recklessly or deliberately creating the need to use deadly force.”

Attorneys for Varnas, the mother of Lynch, did not respond to emails from the Kent Reporter for comment about the settlement.

An attorney who represented Thompson and the city of Olathe, declined to comment to the Johnson County Post in Kansas about the settlement as did the Olathe Police public information officer.

The shooting

Olathe is a city of about 147,000 in Johnson County, 23 miles from Kansas City. Lynch lived at home with his mother.

A younger sister of Lynch called 911 at about 11:10 p.m. Dec. 31, 2022, after “a physical altercation” with Lynch, according to the lawsuit. She told dispatchers about her brother’s history of schizophrenia and paranoia and that he “was in crisis.” Her brother’s caseworker instructed family members to call 911 during prior occasions.

Thompson and the other responding officer had previous contact with Lynch and were aware of his behavioral and mental health symptoms, according to the lawsuit. Thompson had a physical altercation with Lynch during a previous incident.

The officers arrived at the front door of the house at about 11:14 p.m.. The sister told them Lynch was in his basement bedroom. The officers told the sister to exit the home, which she did, and to wait outside.

The officers entered the home and went downstairs to attempt to communicate with Lynch, who reportedly told them, “Get out,” and repeated that message. Lynch closed his bedroom door, which the officers then opened and reportedly shouted commands at Lynch. Thompson pulled out a Taser and aimed it at Lynch and 15 seconds later pulled out his firearm. Officers told him he was under arrest.

The officers then started to back down the hallway and go upstairs. Lynch followed them upstairs to the living room, holding a pocketknife at his side. Thompson took a position in the front doorway and the other officer held open a screen door.

Lynch began to pace in the living room, about 12 to 15 feet from Thompson. One officer unsuccessfully tried to deploy a Taser at Lynch. At about 11:18 p.m., a call went out for more officers to respond.

Thompson, with his gun aimed at Lynch, told him to drop a knife he had at his side. At about 11:19 p .m., Lynch reportedly took a couple of steps toward Thompson, who fired three shots at Lynch.

The suit alleged Thompson recklessly created the situation resulting in use of excessive and deadly force as he continued to shout at, threaten and agitate Lynch when no one was in danger. At 11:31 p.m., Lynch was pronounced dead from the gunshot wounds to his torso.

Awards for shooting

Thompson received valor awards from the Kansas City Metropolitan Area Chiefs and Sheriffs Association in late 2023 and the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police in May 2024, according to the Johnson County Post in Kansas. Both associations cited Thompson’s actions on New Year’s Eve in 2022 in shooting Lynch as the reason for the award.

Chief’s support

The settlement didn’t change Padilla’s opinion about whether to employ Thompson.

“I was confident we hired a good human who was going to be a good Kent Police officer then and I believe it now,” Padilla said. “His work history then and now remains consistent with the high standards and values of the Kent Police Department.”

Kent Police posted July 28 on Facebook about the “nice work” by Thompson in his arrest last week of a felony warrant suspect and recovery of a stolen vehicle.

“Coincidentally, we just put out a social media post on some great work he did on a recent stolen vehicle case and arrest,” Padilla said. “I know some may wonder about the timing of the post, but I assure you it was completely coincidental. If my family called 911, Officer Thompson is the kind of officer I would want to respond.”