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Kuanchung Kao was fatally shot in the early morning of 1997-04-29 by Rohnert Park Police Officer Jack Shields during the police response to multiple 911 calls placed by Kao's neighbors.

Backgrounds
Kuanchung Kao (1964 (age 33) - April 29, 1997) was a Taiwan-born microbiologist working as a quality control engineer. He was married to Ayling Wu, a registered nurse, and they had three children together.

Officer Mike Lynch was the first police respondent on the scene. Officer Jack Shields was the second respondent, a 25-year veteran Rohnert Park public safety officer (the combined police and fire departments) at the time of the shooting in 1997. He was promoted to police lieutenant soon after joining the force, and was later promoted to fire commander after serving more than twenty years as a police lieutenant. However, he was demoted to patrol officer after a year as fire commander after he was found guilty of falsifying time cards for other employees.

Shooting
On the night of 1997-04-28, Kao was drinking at the Cotati Yacht Club in celebration of a new job. While at the bar, he was involved two scuffles with at least one other bar patron. In the first, he corrected a patron by stating he was Chinese, not Japanese, to which the other patron responded by saying "You all look alike to me." The bartender, who was familiar with Kao, separated Kao from the other patron by seating them at opposite ends of the bar.

The same patron later approached Kao and whispered some inflammatory words, instigating a larger brawl. During that brawl, Kao was stabbed over the eye with a dart. Cotati police were called to restore order, and Kao was sent home in a taxicab following the intercession of the bartender, who said the bar fight was inconsistent with his regular behavior.

Upon arriving home, Kao did not enter his house but instead stayed outside, crying "Neighbors, please help me!" Postmortem tests later showed Kao's blood alcohol level was 0.23%, well over the legal limit of impairment in California. The disturbance woke other neighbors, who called 911 to report a drunken disturbance in their neighborhood at 2:11. According to witnesses, Kao retrieved a long wooden stick from a motorhome parked in his driveway at around this time.

Four minutes later, the police arrived on the scene. Officer Lynch tried to intimidate Kao by approaching at high speed and stopping his patrol vehicle close to Kao, but found it only provoked Kao further: Kao responded by hitting the patrol car with the stick. After backing the car away, Lynch remained in the car and waited for backup. Almost simultaneously, Officer Shields arrived and executed the same short-stop maneuver, using a spotlight on Kao and exiting the vehicle, despite Lynch advising Shields to remain in the car.

An eyewitness later stated neither Lynch nor Shields identified themselves as police officers. At this time, Kao's wife, Ayling Wu, was outside and trying to calm Kao down. Shields commanded Wu to step away from Kao, and once she had retreated, Shields shot Kao. Wu, a trained medical professional, was physically restrained from approaching Kao after he was shot. There are conflicting reports about whether the officers attempted to perform CPR on Kao after he was shot.

Kao's body remained in the driveway until noon, and his eldest daughter witnessed part of the disturbance.

Shields later testified that he feared for his life, since Kao was waving the stick in what was termed a "threatening martial arts fashion." Kao never studied martial arts. A warrant, served the next day on Kao's house, had police comb through the house for evidence of martial arts training or paraphernalia. None was found.

Sonoma County District Attorney
The Sonoma County Sheriff's Department conducted an investigation of the shooting and filed a 600-page report with the Sonoma County District Attorney's office in May 1997. On 1997-06-19, Sonoma County District Attorney Michael Mullins decided not to file criminal charges against Officer Jack Shields, concluding that Officer Shields had acted in self-defense. The California Attorney General's office investigated whether the decision not to prosecute was an abuse of discretion, concluding in a 1998-03-24 letter from Dan Lungren that deadly force was justified.

Rohnert Park
On 1997-08-05, the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety ruled Officer Shields acted in accordance with departmental policies and procedures for the use of deadly force.

Federal Bureau of Investigation
The United States Attorney in San Francisco requested an FBI investigation of the shooting shortly after it occurred, on the suspicion that Kao's civil rights had been violated through the use of excessive force, which potentially could have led to a life sentence. Senator Barbara Boxer met with Ayling Wu and Nancy Wang on 1997-10-03; following the meeting Boxer stated she would relay concerns to the US Attorney. On 1998-01-28, US Attorney Michael Yamaguchi declined to file criminal charges against Officer Shields, citing insufficient evidence that Kuanchung Kao's civil rights were violated.

Civil Suit
On 1997-10-01, John Burris and the Asian Law Caucus filed an administrative wrongful death claim, followed by the 1998-02-02 filing of a US$50 million federal suit against Rohnert Park, its Police Department, and the two officers involved. The suit was settled out-of-court for US$1 million in 2001.

Aftermath
The shooting of Kuanchung Kao mobilized Asian-American activists to protest the perceived racial factors in his killing. Days after the August 1997 Rohnert Park investigation cleared Shields, on the 100-day anniversary of Kao's death, a vigil was held in San Francisco in part demanding a new investigation.

Activist pressure along with a growing trend of fatal police shootings in Sonoma County culminated in a United States Commission on Civil Rights investigation, which held a public hearing on 1998-02-20. Police and police supporters packed the meeting, forcing those with different viewpoints to stand outside the meeting room.

Kao's widow Ayling Wu and their three children moved to Orange County by 2001.

Jack Shields retired from the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety in 2000 with over 30 years of service and moved to Hamlin, Texas, later becoming the mayor of Hamlin.