A news brief on the 2022 death of 28-year-old Dylan Walstrom of Topeka, citing the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, said he died after exiting a car, shooting at the officer, and struggling “for control of a handgun.”

The KBI said Walstrom “refused several of the officer’s commands,” and, “during the struggle, Walstrom fired once at the officer, who fired several shots in return.”

That explanation troubled Walstrom’s mother, Carrie Bell, a Kansas native who lives in Texas. She asked lawyer LaRonna Lassiter Saunders to view the body cam video.

Lassiter Saunders, and a Chicago expert Bell hired, said the video shows the officer firing first and that the KBI’s account doesn’t match video evidence. They ask: Who shoots and struggles after shots to the forehead?

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Bell filed an Oct. 31 Kansas Open Records Act request for the officer’s name and “reimbursement for the burdensome expenses caused by the City Attorney’s withholding of bodycam footage and lack of transparency.” It’s another example of the city hiding video from the public.

The KBI “did make me believe my son shot at an officer,” Bell said. “He was shot twice in the head. He would have been incapacitated. Some things are just black and white. He shot my son twice, hesitated, and then shot him seven more times.”

Bell said she identified her son by his wrist tattoo.

The KORA request marked her third request for the officer’s name, and the clock has run out for any lawsuit.

Kansas Reflector has not seen the video.

The KBI responded to a request for comment by sending the agency’s original statement on the case. The city of Topeka did not respond to Kansas Reflector, but Bell said via email that the city denied her request.

“They said it was not in the best interest of the citizens of Topeka” to name the officer, she said.

Reports from 2018 said Topeka police found four stolen vehicles on Walstrom’s property when arresting him. Walstrom served prison time for felony theft. His December 2022 interface with police developed from a stolen car report.

Lassiter Saunders said the bodycam video showed the officer approached from the passenger side of the car where Walstrom slept in the driver’s seat. Walstrom seemed disoriented after waking up.

She said Walstrom attempted to open the door, but the officer told him “no.” Walstrom had a gun but never pointed it at the officer.

“As soon as (the officer) saw the gun, he shot twice from the driver’s side,” Lassiter Saunders said. “He then reached in and grabbed Dylan’s hand and shot him seven more times.”

The officer’s panic seemed reasonable, she said. What happened next didn’t.

Lassiter Saunders said the officer placed his weapon on a trash can behind him, calmly called for backup, said Walstrom tried to attack him and that he’d shot Walstrom.

“He killed him and then called in a lie,” she said. “This could have been explained. But what you can’t do is smoke him, make up a lie and then hide your identity.”

Bell hired Jennifer Matthews, a Chicago-area body camera video consultant who trains police departments on using body cams more effectively. Bell flew Matthews in to view the video.

Matthews’ report read, in part: “Upon careful review of the footage at a reduced speed (0.5x), it is evident that the first shot fired by the officer struck the driver directly in the center of the forehead. While I do not possess formal medical training, it is reasonable to infer that such a wound would likely result in immediate and significant incapacitation, potentially rendering the driver unable to continue any physical or cognitive function.”

The report continued: “Based on the available evidence, it is the expert’s opinion that the officer was the first to fire his weapon. … After the initial shot, the officer continued to fire multiple rounds, ultimately resulting in the driver’s death.”

The video revisits alarming variants between official accounts of police shootings and video evidence. About a month before police shot Walstrom to death, police fired more than 30 shots at Taylor Lowery, killing him.

The Shawnee County District Attorney’s Office exonerated the officers and claimed, despite video to the contrary, that Lowery lunged at police holding a knife above his head.

Video obtained by Kansas Reflector showed Lowery holding a wrench and backing away from officers as they began shooting.

Despite the answers the video has seemingly offered, questions remain for Bell.

Why lie about an explainable shooting? Why can’t a mother know who killed her child? Why did she have to spend $13,000 when that information should have been made available?

December will mark three years since the shooting. It hasn’t been easy. She’d planned to gift her son a car later that December for his birthday.

She said at first, she wondered how she could take on the police department, the city, the KBI, and all the law enforcement secrecy in Kansas. But an answer came from her son.

“My son, from the other side, said he would walk me through to the other side of what happened,” Bell said. “Little by little, it has been laid out. I’m not a religious freak or anything, but something is keeping me going.”

Mark McCormick is the former executive director of the Kansas African American Museum, a member of the Kansas African American Affairs Commission and former deputy executive director at the ACLU of Kansas.