What It’s Like to Survive Being Shot 16 Times
Dustin Theoharis doesn’t like to talk about the day he was shot 16 times. Neither do the officers who shot him, so it’s hard to describe exactly how it unfolded.
What’s clear is that on February 11, 2012, several law-enforcement officers entered a house in Auburn, Washington, where Theoharis happened to be renting a room. They detained the homeowner’s son, who was wanted for violating his parole conditions. Then two of the officers pushed through a pair of French doors into the dark former storage space where Theoharis, 28 at the time, was sleeping.
Conflicting accounts make the next several seconds fuzzy. Kristopher Rongen, an officer with the Washington State Department of Corrections, this way: He announced “Police, police, show your hands” in a loud voice, but Theoharis refused to do so. Rongen asked Theoharis whether he had weapons, and Theoharis admitted that he had three—then added “right here” and moved to sweep the floor with his hand. Rongen and the second officer, Aaron Thompson, a that Theoharis was reaching for a gun and opened fire. (Both officers declined to be interviewed.)
