The state Justice Department says a 14-year-old boy killed by Ashland County sheriff’s deputies was despondent for at least several days before he was shot. The agency said during the weekend that Jason Pero approached Deputy Brock Mrdjenovich with a large butcher knife, refused to drop it upon the deputy’s orders, and the officer was trying to retreat while Pero lunged at him twice. The state says Pero himself was the one to alert deputies that he was walking with a knife Wednesday in Odanah. The Justice Department says Mrdjenovich, who was with the Ashland County sheriff’s force for one year, is now on paid administrative leave as the state continues to investigate. Pero’s family said Thursday that the teen was not a troublemaker, and his mother told W-D-I-O T-V in Duluth that she planned to start a petition to have Ashland County deputies wear body cameras.
State: Teen Shot By Deputy Was Despondent Before His Death
Nov 13, 2017 | 6:00 AM
State News