Off-duty Galveston officer spared charges in woman’s shooting
A Galveston grand jury will not bring any charges against an off-duty police officer who shot and killed a woman in March, according to a news release issued Thursday from the county district attorney’s office.
The police officer, Evan Fraley, was off-duty when he shot Toni Jo Collins, 36, who was armed with a pink-and-black BB gun, March 9, according to witnesses.
The grand jury concluded its investigation Thursday and decided to not take any further action against Fraley. Over two weeks in the 212th District Court in Galveston, the grand jury heard testimony from witnesses before deliberating.
Fraley, an officer with Galveston Police Department since December 2013, reportedly got a call from his mother about a woman pointing a gun at people as they drove by on Broadway, according to the news release.
Fraley eventually approached Collins and told her that he was a police officer as he got out of the car.
He told Collins to drop her gun, but the woman did not initially comply.
The officer’s wife was also on the phone with 911 operators asking for assistance for her husband, the release stated.
Fraley managed to take the rifle from Collins’ hands, but a struggle ensued. Collins apparently approached Fraley in a “threatening manner” and
was “wielding a piece of wood over her shoulder,” the release said.
He shot her one time in the chest.
Collins and Fraley had several previous encounters, and the officer was calling the woman by her name during the shooting.
Victor Mangum, Collins’ boyfriend, was also present during the shooting. He originally told the Houston Chronicle that Collins was “pistolwhipped” and then shot as she held a stick in her hand as she faced the officer.
The district attorney’s office said Mangum later verified that Collins had a piece of wood in her hands when the shooting occurred and she was struggling with Fraley, according to the release.
The Galveston County Sheriff ’s Office completed a criminal investigation. The Galveston Police Department also conducted a separate internal affairs investigation.
The Galveston County District Attorney’s Office completed a separate investigation of the officer’s actions.
Collins was shot one time in the torso and was under the influence of alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana, according to the medical examiner’s report.
Investigators also concluded that Collins was handling a BB gun during the shooting.