COOLIN — The widow of a man who was shot and killed at Priest Lake is suing the county, the sheriff’s office and six deputies in connection with a deadly confrontation in 2017.

Counsel for Robin Johnson filed a civil rights action in U.S. District Court alleging excessive force, use of deadly force and inadequate training. The civil suit makes supplemental state claims for wrongful death, recklessness and negligence.

The 48-page complaint was filed in Idaho’s federal court on Sept. 25, U.S. District Court records show.

Craig Albert Johnson, 50, was shot to death outside his cabin on Sept. 26, 2017, two days after he allegedly pointed a handgun at a sheriff’s deputy who attempted to conduct a welfare check at the residence. The welfare check was requested by Robin Johnson after she had a verbal altercation with her husband and lost phone contact with him for approximately 24 hours, according to court documents.

Deputy Gary Madden attempted to conduct the welfare check shortly before midnight on Sept. 24. Johnson appeared on an upstairs deck with a lawfully owned firearm and instructed Madden to leave, the suit alleges. The following day Deputy Mike Gagnon, who was shot and wounded in the line of duty eight months earlier, raised concerns about the severity of the incident and began making inquiries in Craig Johnson’s background and mental health status, according to the suit.

Deputies determined, despite having no formal training in assessing mental health conditions, determined Craig Johnson was mentally unstable and posed a threat to the general public, the suit alleges. They also secured an arrest warrant alleging Craig Johnson committed a felony assault against the Madden during the welfare check.

Call logs obtained by the plaintiffs indicate sheriff’s officials called Craig Johnson several times on Sept. 25. Detective Phil Stella spoke with Robin Johnson that day, but he still harbored doubts about Craig Johnson’s mental health, the suit said.

The suit further alleges that Robin Johnson was not advised of the warrant for her husband’s arrest or that sheriff’s officials planned to execute it with the department’s Emergency Response Team, which includes an armored personnel carrier and snipers.

Craig Johnson called the sheriff’s office on Sept. 25 and left at 56-second message which was never returned, the suit said. Attorneys for Robin Johnson said the sheriff’s office lost or destroyed the record of this call.

Craig Johnson spoke with his wife over the phone and explained that he contacted the sheriff’s office and left a message. Robin Johnson said in the suit that she believed the matter had been resolved.

“At the conclusion of that call, Robin Johnson had no further concerns about the health and wellbeing of her husband,” attorneys Drew Dillon and Rebecca Rainey said in the civil complaint.

The ERT huddled on the morning of shooting for a briefing on a plan surround the home and convince Craig Johnson to surrender. Snipers Shaun Deem and Ted Swanstrom took up positions in the front of the home while the team in the BearCat APC took a position behind the home.

Stella called Craig Johnson three times prior to the commencement of the operation, with two of the calls lasted less than a minute and a third spanning more than eight minutes, according to the suit. Three more calls from Stella to Craig Johnson went unanswered.

At 8:41 a.m., Stella called Robin Johnson instructing her to call him back, but she was not near her phone. Craig Johnson also placed calls and sent texts to his wife, but those, too, went unanswered.

At approximately 8:51 a.m., shots were fired and Craig Johnson was fatally wounded, according to the suit. He died en route to a landing zone for an air ambulance.

An autopsy determined one of the gunshots entered Craig Johnson’s right shoulder blade and exited his left shoulder blade. Another gunshot entered the left side of his abdomen.

Idaho State Police drafted a press release stating Craig Johnson confronted deputies with a handgun, which forced deputies to use lethal force.

Attorneys Robin Johnson dispute that characterization and point out that Craig Johnson was unaware of the arrest warrant.

“Craig Johnson was not actively resisting arrest or attempting to evade arrest,” the suit said.

The suit further alleges Sheriff Daryl Wheeler was displeased with the ISP news release, which prompted sheriff’s officials to propose a more detailed narrative. State police, however, stuck with the original narrative but added the word “loaded” to the description of the handgun at the request of sheriff’s officials.

The sniper team was interviewed on Sept. 29. Deem said he saw Johnson approaching Swanstrom’s position with gun drawn and heard Swanstrom ordering Johnson to drop the gun, the suit said. Deem fired the two shots when the commands went unheeded.

Swanstrom said Craig Johnson had been holding the pistol in his left hand by the barrel end. Swanstrom said he stood up to reveal himself and Johnson used his right hand to grab the gun by its hand grip, according to the suit.

The suit notes that Deem and Swanstrom gave conflicting accounts about Craig Johnson’s movement immediately before he was shot. Swanstrom said Johnson halted when the deputy revealed himself, while Deem told investigators Johnson was rapidly advancing on Swanstrom.

The suit accuses sheriff’s officials of failing to properly plan for the mission and conduct a threat assessment to establish the rules of engagement and use of force. The suit also alleges that body-worn cameras were present, but not utilized.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.