Jennifer Kilnapp v. Bailey Gannon

In panicked flight from a suspect who was neither chasing nor threatening him, Respondent Officer Bailey Gannon recklessly fired his gun without looking, let alone aiming. Instead of hitting the suspect, he shot his partner, Petitioner Officer Jennifer Kilnapp. Kilnapp sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that Gannon used excessive force. The Sixth Circuit held that Gannon was entitled to qualified immunity regardless of whether his conduct was objectively unreasonable. It reasoned that even if it was clearly established that the shooting was unreasonable, it was not “clearly established” at the time of the shooting that Kilnapp, as an unintended target, could file a Fourth Amendment claim against Gannon. The question presented is: Did the Court of Appeals err in granting qualified immunity based on facts that the officer could not have known at the time of the conduct and that related only to whether the eventual plaintiff could assert a specific cause of action, not whether the officer’s own conduct was objectively unreasonable?