What happened the night Kentucky police shot and killed a man at the wrong home?
A few minutes before midnight Dec. 23, 2024, London police pulled up on a rural Laurel County hillside dotted with mobile homes. Within two minutes, officers had surrounded one white doublewide, shouted at the occupant inside and stormed the home, guns drawn.
Minutes later, 63-year-old Douglas “Doug” Harless, who police say pointed a pistol at them when they broke down his door, lay dead in his living room and the nine officers who were there began to assess the scene.
London Police Department Capt. Ryan Jackson, the highest-ranking supervisor there, later recalled Lt. Andrew “Drew” Jackson calling for him to come outside as he tried to help officers render aid.
“Drew Jackson, Lieutenant Jackson, was like, ‘I need to talk to you for a minute,” Ryan Jackson told Kentucky State Police investigators. “I said, ‘OK.’ He said, ‘There’s a possibility that we’re at the wrong residence,’ and I said, ‘What?’ you know, ‘Why, why do you think that?’”
The Herald-Leader has covered the 2024 police shooting since the morning after Harless died, recording how it galvanized a rural Southern Kentucky community against police violence. Protesters have become a fixture along a stretch of Main Street near city hall and the Laurel County courthouse, where they hold monthly vigils.
Through it all, reporters have interviewed witnesses and public officials. They’ve pored over the scant records of the events leading up to the fatal encounter and pressured state and local investigators repeatedly to share the files into what happened that night.
In February, a Laurel County grand jury declined to indict any of the officers involved in the shooting, freeing KSP to disclose its records for the first time.
At the center of the case is a critical error the Herald-Leader identified early and confirmed with Friday’s release of investigative records: London police meant to serve a search warrant at 489 Vanzant Road, but stormed inside and shot the man living at 511 Vanzant Road, just a few hundred feet away.
Officers were attempting to serve a warrant tied to stolen lawn equipment late at night, but mapping data and property records misidentified the location, sending officers to Harless’ residence instead. He had no connection to the investigation, police confirmed.
Here’s what we’ve learned from the documents so far.
Police didn’t have an operations plan
The investigative file indicates the operation lacked coordination. Officers didn’t prepare a formal plan or risk analysis before forcing entry into the home, and Jackson, the seniormost supervising officer, did not review the warrant prior to the raid, in violation of standing police department policy.
London police also didn’t coordinate with the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office, even though officers were executing a search warrant outside city limits in a rural part of the county.
The city police policy on executing search warrants requires warrants to be “directed to the law enforcement agency of the jurisdiction in which it is to be served,” and “must be conducted in concert with the police personnel from that jurisdiction.”
The search warrant was signed by Laurel County District Judge Wendall Hammons about two hours before police visited the home.
The scene was chaotic and confusing
Det. Joshua Morgan, who fired the all five shots that struck and killed Harless, told investigators time appeared to slow down.
Within minutes of arriving on the scene, officers surrounded the house while a handful climbed up the porch past house numbers that didn’t match their warrant. Some officers described the scene as being too dark to see well, while others reported they had trouble identifying features of the house because the lights were too bright.
A video that captured the incident from a neighbor’s house appears to show a bright light emanating from the officers’ vehicles toward Harless’ home. Witnesses say they shouted, “Police come to the door! Search warrant!”
Morgan said he heard Harless say something “loud” and “angry” from inside but couldn’t make out what he said.
A split-second confrontation had fatal consequences
While the file indicates Morgan gave statements the same night, he was not interviewed by KSP investigators until four days after the fatal shooting. He was put on paid leave following the incident, and it is unclear what his employment status is with the department now.
A KSP investigator notes in the file the International Association of Chiefs of Police recommends delaying personal interviews from 48 to 72 hours to give officers time to recover and enhance recall.
“This interval is particularly recommended for officers who were directly involved in the shooting,” KSP Lt. Tye Chavies wrote.
As soon as police broke down Harless’ door, Morgan said he saw Harless standing directly in front of him, raising a gun and moving his other arm in a gesture that suggested he was chambering a round. Morgan told investigators he couldn’t recall in which hand Harless was holding the gun.
Morgan said he feared for his life.
During a tense encounter with a lead KSP investigator, Morgan appeared to become emotional, describing the seconds leading up to and after pulling the trigger. Later, he described finding it difficult to get his bearings and “comprehend exactly what happened.”
Immediately after shooting Harless, Morgan and his fellow officers quickly checked the residence to ensure it was clear before rendering aid, they told investigators.
The file indicates officer on scene that night did have access to non-lethal force.
A detective visited the residence before the raid
Det. Elbert Riley visited the address police thought was 489 Vanzant Road earlier the evening of the raid.
“I put the address into my GPS when I left my house, drove past the residence there on [redacted], uh, driving super slow — well, as slow as I could without making it blatantly obvious that I was, um driving, to, you know, look at someone’s residence,” he told investigators. “Passed it up, went down to the end of the road, turned around and passed it up again, trying to get information on the house.”
Apple Maps, the web-based iPhone application the detective said he used to locate the house, dropped a pin on 511 Vanzant Road when a user searches “489 Vanzant Road,” the Herald-Leader found in a test this week. An unmarked dirt road leads past Harless’ house where 489 Vanzant is located.
Riley was assisting an investigation into stolen lawn equipment. Their suspect in the burglary told officers he had traded a weed eater for drugs with a man they later determined lived at 489 Vanzant Road. Other witnesses described the man as a “drug dealer” and “a pretty bad guy.”
Questions still linger
An autopsy later confirmed Harless died from multiple gunshot wounds.
The account highlights the volatile nature of late-night warrant service — particularly when a homeowner may perceive forced entry as a threat.
London police say they’re conducting an internal investigation, but it is still unclear why officers appeared in heavy tactical gear just 10 minutes before midnight to execute a search warrant for a stolen weed eater.
The police department has not responded to multiple requests for an interview or statement since the release of the KSP files last week.
The Harless family has named the city in a wrongful death lawsuit, and attorneys say the file represents a “major step forward” in their pursuit of justice.
Meanwhile, county leaders have called for a federal civil rights investigation into the shooting, which may represent the only remaining avenue for criminal charges since the Laurel County grand jury declined to indict.
The London City Council and Mayor Randall Weddle, who have pledged to investigate the shooting, have not said whether they will take city action against the department or any officers involved.
This story was originally published April 14, 2026 at 1:45 PM.
