On October 25, 1994, five Lexington police officers entered a home to arrest 18-year-old Antonio “Tony” Sullivan. Police found him hiding inside a closet. Sullivan emerged unarmed and, according to later accounts, with his hands raised.

Lexington Police Sergeant Phil Vogel’s 9mm pistol discharged while Vogel was reportedly attempting to de-cock the weapon. The bullet struck Sullivan in the head, killing him at the scene.

Police called the shooting accidental. A Fayette County grand jury declined to indict Vogel, and federal investigators reportedly reached the same conclusion. Vogel left the department around the time of the grand-jury decision, and a wrongful-death settlement later existed.

But more than thirty years later, many of the records needed to independently evaluate the official explanation remain unavailable—includin ...