Police: We had to shoot

12-7-2010 Nebraska:

Omaha Police Chief Alex Hayes said Tuesday that a police officer and U.S. marshal had no choice but to shoot a man in the parking lot of a busy southwest Omaha strip mall.

The lawmen who fired at Joe M. Weible narrowly avoided being run over by Weible's vehicle, Hayes said.

“We don't get to pick the location where these (shootings) happen,” Hayes said. “When you're thrust into a situation where you have to use deadly force, it happens where it happens.”

Hayes said officers “try to minimize what the backdrop is when those shots are fired” and try to control where they point their weapons.

Hayes said Weible, 35, did not have a gun but did have knives in his possession. He said Weible accelerated and drove his pickup truck at a high rate of speed toward Officer Jeff Gassaway and the marshal.

Hayes said the threat was from the charging vehicle.

“It's a deadly weapon,” Hayes said of the pickup, a 1998 Chevy S-10. “It will kill you if you don't get out of the way or try to stop it.”

Four to five shots were fired. One struck Weible. Police have not said if the other bullets struck the pickup.

The shooting happened about 2 p.m. Monday at the strip mall near 120th Street and West Center Road. Weible died later at Creighton University Medical Center.

Hayes said it was not clear who fired the fatal shot.

Gassaway, 44, is a 13-year police veteran. In 2008, he shot an escapee from a state prison after he swerved his vehicle at Gassaway.

Gassaway was honored by the U.S. Attorney's Office for investigating street gangs and shared the 2004 CrimeStoppers Officer of the Year Award with another officer.

The U.S. Marshals Service refused to identify the marshal involved in the shooting.

Both Gassaway and the marshal are on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

The Metro Area Fugitive Task Force is led by U.S. marshals. It has 12 full-time members — six marshals, six Omaha police officers, one Douglas County sheriff's deputy and one Council Bluffs police officer. There are also nine part-time members.

The task force operates in both Iowa and Nebraska and works to take fugitives off the streets.
U.S. marshals also are responsible for protecting federal courts, transporting prisoners and other duties.

Hayes said the task force had been working with the woman who alleged she was assaulted by Weible. She called 911 on Nov. 29.

An arrest warrant was issued, charging Weible with first-degree sexual assault and attempted strangulation of his former girlfriend.

Weible called the ex-girlfriend, 26, on Monday and asked her to meet him at the shopping center.

That place was a familiar meeting spot for the couple, Hayes said.

The woman notified police of the phone call.

Task force members arrived before the meeting time. Weible already was there, sitting in his truck. Law officers, some of them in vehicles, surrounded him and ordered him out of the pickup.

Gassaway and a marshal approached on foot.

Weible started the truck, tried to back up but was blocked in by police vehicles.

He accelerated in the direction of Gassaway and the marshal, who were about 6 feet away, Hayes said.

Both fired their weapons as they got out of the way of the truck.

After he was shot, Weible's vehicle continued forward and crashed into two parked cars near the entrance to a Baker's Supermarket, Hayes said.

He was then Tasered, Hayes said.

The Police Department's policy on use of deadly force apparently covers situations such as the Weible shooting:

“Shot(s) will not be fired at or from a moving vehicle except as the ultimate measure of self-defense, or defense of another. Firing of weapons at a moving vehicle will only be done in extreme, close-range circumstances when all other means of stopping the vehicle containing a dangerous felon have been attempted and have failed.”

The Weible shooting was the fifth officer-involved shooting in Omaha this year that resulted in a death. Omaha hadn't had a police-involved fatal shooting since 2007.

The total number of police-involved shootings for 2010 is nine when accounting for people who were injured but not killed.

Hayes said the task force had tried to find Weible before Monday's shooting.

“We had to get him off the street before he tried to hurt this woman again,” he said.

Last week, members of the task force searched Weible's father's home in Cozad, Neb.

“They looked under the beds and everything, even the building out back,” Jack Weible, 81, said. “I asked them what the deal was but they wouldn't say. They didn't believe he wasn't here.”

Weible's father said his son had an off-and-on relationship with the woman he was accused of assaulting.

The couple met at Nebraska By-Products in Lexington, Neb., where Joe Weible drove a truck. They lived together in an apartment there.

The couple split up for several years, Jack Weible said, but had gotten back together in the last few months.

“I thought he was happy,” Jack Weible said. “They went to get her stuff about three or four months ago, and I thought they were getting along good.”

The ex-girlfriend declined to comment on Tuesday.

Joe Weible moved to Omaha about six months ago and worked for a lumber company, his father said. He graduated from Cozad High School and had previously lived in Kearney. ..Source.. by Jason Kuiper and Juan Perez Jr.

Tempe suspect killed by deputy was wanted sex offender

Witness testimony is NOT relevant to the police, only what police say? Why bother investigating crimes if police assumptions are the only thing that counts; thankfully courts see this differently.

9-14-2012 Arizona:

A man shot to death Thursday in Tempe by a Maricopa County sheriff's deputy was a convicted sex offender who had a warrant out for his arrest, according to court records.

Joel Edward Smith III, 19, had violated his probation on a reduced charge of failure to register as a sex offender. Superior Court Judge Warren Granville signed a warrant for Smith's arrest on Aug. 7.

Smith was shot and killed Thursday morning by a deputy who was helping Tempe police search for burglary suspects.

The shooting took place on a canal bank that separates Tempe from Guadalupe, a town patrolled by the Sheriff's Office.

Although two Guadalupe residents who witnessed the shooting said Smith appeared to be unarmed and attempting to surrender, a sheriff's official said that the shooting was justified and that Smith threatened the deputy with a knife.

"The facts are that not only did the deputy sheriff have to encounter this individual, but so did two other Tempe officers who witnessed this from a very close distance," said Dave Trombi, a sheriff's deputy chief.

"People's assumptions on what he could have or would have done are irrelevant given that he did pull a knife, he did threaten the Tempe officers and the deputy sheriff, and the deputy sheriff did feel threatened," Trombi said.

The shooting remains under investigation by the Sheriff's Office.

Although the incident started in Tempe, city police deferred because the Sheriff's Office has jurisdiction throughout the county.

The court records show that Smith was indicted in June 2009 on a charge of sexual conduct with a minor, among the most serious of sex crimes, and the victim was a girl younger than 15. The molestation took place in April 2008, when Smith was 15. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge and was placed on lifetime probation, which he violated at least once before, court records show.

He last reported to a probation officer May 4 and failed to report three times, the report said. ..Source.. by Jim Walsh, and JJ Hensley

Suspect in child-sex case killed by deputies in Treasure Island motel

9-2-2012 Florida:

On Monday night, an 11-year-old girl from Safety Harbor told her mother she felt dizzy. Her stomach hurt. She had a headache.

The mother and her live-in boyfriend, Gregory J. Johns, took the girl to the hospital. The pair waited in a lobby as a doctor examined her. After a few minutes, the doctor came back with news: The girl was pregnant.

Her mother was distraught, and so was Johns. He asked for the car keys. He needed a smoke.

Johns never came back.

Allegations of rape soon followed, and investigators began their pursuit. For five days, Johns — a criminal for more than half of his 42 years — returned to the life he knew. He robbed strangers, authorities say, and bought booze with the money he stole. He swore that he'd rather die than go back to prison.

Just after 5 Saturday morning, Johns got what he wanted. Cornered in a second-floor room at a cheap motel on Treasure Island, he rushed Pinellas sheriff's deputies with a knife, investigators say.

Ten bullets later, he was dead.

• • •

Johns was first arrested at 17. He first went to prison at 18.

Between then and Saturday, he was arrested at least 12 times. For selling cocaine. For carrying a concealed firearm. For robbery and burglary, and battering a law enforcement officer.

He served six stints in prison.

He was last released by the Florida Department of Corrections in July 2009, which, authorities say, was around the time he met and moved in with the woman in Safety Harbor.

Johns, records show, had never before been accused of a sex crime. But after that hospital visit Monday night, authorities say, the 11-year-old told her mother what had happened:

She was home alone with Johns one day in June. He came into the girl's room and asked her to join him in the master bedroom. She refused, so Johns, at 5-foot-9 and 280 pounds, pinned her to the bed and raped her. In the days that followed, deputies say, he assaulted her twice more.

On Tuesday of last week, with a warrant out for his arrest, police said Johns broke into the St. Petersburg home of a 78-year-old woman. He robbed her and left her bound and gagged for 12 hours.

The next day, reports say, he approached a couple in Vinoy Park, drew a knife and demanded money.

He called his girlfriend that night. He said he was sorry for ruining her daughter's life but insisted he would never return to prison.

The police, he told her, would have to kill him.

On Wednesday, investigators found a note at Vinoy Park that had fallen out of Johns' pocket.

It was an apology to the girl.

• • •

Brian Britton and Misty Roberson met Johns outside their motel room Friday evening.

Johns, they say, was staying upstairs with a blond woman they believed was his girlfriend.

The young couple, on vacation from Ruskin, also met two of Johns' other friends, who introduced themselves as "Brett" and "Leslie."

Johns invited Britton, 24, and Roberson, 26, up to his second-floor room for a shot of Grey Goose vodka. The room, they said, was trashed. Clothes, empty cups and McDonald's bags were strewn across the floor. Johns told them he planned to stay for a week.

Next to the pool downstairs, the group played cards, mostly rummy, for hours. Johns, wearing a white T-shirt and black swim trunks, blared rap music from Plies and Lil Wayne on one of his two phones. He chugged bottles of Bud Light Platinum. He mixed his vodka with orange Fanta.

"He seemed nice," Britton said. "He was in a real good mood."

The conversation, they said, was random. He told them he had a pacemaker and pulled up his shirt to show a scar across his chest. Johns said he would have played college basketball if not for arrests he declined to explain. He pulled out a stack of $20 bills and bet his friend Brett that he could beat him in a game.

Around midnight, when Brett and Leslie got into an argument, Britton said Johns turned to him: "I've got no respect for that guy. He's a woman beater."

Roberson went to bed around 2 a.m. Saturday. Britton stayed up for a swim.

Leslie, he said, told him to be careful. Johns had noticed the cash in his girlfriend's pocket.

Britton soon went to his room and locked the door behind him.

Earlier, investigators were told that Johns was in a hotel on Madeira Beach or Treasure Island. More than a dozen deputies had searched through the night before they found him in his room.

Johns refused to answer the door, authorities said, then locked himself in the bathroom. When deputies broke in, they say, he came out with a knife. Deputies Claudio Dimundo and Eric Turner fired at him.

"I heard the cop kick the door in and then yelling," Britton said. "Then — pop, pop, pop."

Shot multiple times, Johns died on the floor of Room 224 at a motel named the Trails End. ..Source.. by John Woodrow Cox

Man killed by FBI was registered sex offender

7-16-2012 Ohio:

Dilton Myers changed name after 1995 Kansas conviction

DAYTON — The man shot to death by an FBI agent June 28 had been a registered sexual offender when he moved to Ohio in 2003, the Dayton Daily News has learned.

Fallacy Myers, 43, lived at 105 Samuel St., where he was shot to death while agents were executing a search warrant. That warrant remains under seal.

The FBI has declined comment on the shooting, but Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl said June 28 that the investigation dealt with child exploitation and money laundering.

Since the day of the shooting Dayton police have declined comment on the shooting.

Myers was known by his birth name, Dilton Richard Myers, when he was convicted of indecent solicitation of a child in 1995. That conviction was in Barton County, Kan., and the offense involved a 15-year-old girl, according to records obtained by the Dayton Daily News.

He was placed on probation, but that was revoked in 1997 after he was convicted of burglary. He was paroled in September 2000, according to Kansas Department of Corrections records.

Myers had been in prison on prior occasions and had burglary and theft convictions in the late 1980s. In 2000, Myers changed his name to Fallacy Mac Runes Myers, according to a court order filed in Leavenworth County, Kansas.

The order states that “the petitioner is a Pagan and a priest within the religion known commonly as Wicca.”

It also states that Myers was convinced “that he must rid himself of the burden of a Judeo-Christian name.”

Myers lived briefly in West Monroe, La., where he registered with authorities in June and July 2003.

He registered with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office from 2003 through February 2007, when his 10-year registration requirement expired, according to records.

Fred Alverson, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, said last month that when agents arrived, Myers indicated that he wanted to cooperate with the investigation.

The agents had been there several hours when Myers grabbed a knife and started stabbing himself, Alverson said.

When the agents tried to use a Taser on Myers, he lunged at one of the them and was shot, Alverson said.

While they were present, Myers lunged at one of them with a knife and the agent shot him, Biehl said.

Biehl said that the agent fired three shots, and that investigators believe all three hit Myers.

Myers’ wife, Bonnie, could not be reached for comment.

In November 2010, Myers started Foresakenclans.com, LLC, according to the Ohio secretary of state. The website says that it is a “free online vampire vs. werewolf multiplayer game.”

A vendor license for Foresakenclans.com, LLC was issued July 19, 2011, according to the Montgomery County Vendor License database. The office was located at 2105 Needmore Road, Suite B, in Harrison Twp., according to records.

But the sign at the property was for Curvy Massage, which appeared to be closed after the shooting. Myers had a Curvy Massage sign on his car, which was parked near his house the day of his shooting. ..Source.. by Lou Grieco

Virginia Police Shoot, Kill Child Porn Suspect

5-20-2012 Virginia:

Man refused to surrender, threatened police with a sword

Fairfax County Police are investigating an incident that ended in officers shooting and killing a man wanted on child porn charges Saturday night.

Investigators say the shooting occurred inside an apartment on Backlick Road in Springfield. Police were informed that the suspect, who has not been identified, was hiding in a bedroom.

Police say the man was wanted on three felony counts of producing child pornography, three felony counts of possessing or reproducing child pornography with intent to distribute, and one misdemeanor count of consensual sexual intercourse with a minor. Police had encountered the suspect the previous night, but he allegedly escaped on foot after giving the officers false identification.

With felony counts of resisting arrest and identity theft added to his rap sheet, the suspect refused to surrender when encountered by police Saturday night. Instead, officers say he threatened them with a sword.

After making repeated demands for the man to surrender, officers fired both live ammunition and bean-bag rounds, fatally wounding the suspect, who was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

The investigation into the case is ongoing. ..Source.. by 4NBC.com

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Child porn suspect killed by police in Springfield

SPRINGFIELD, Va. - A child pornography suspect was shot and killed by police Saturday night after evading officers and then threatening them with a sword.

Fairfax County police say the man had eluded them Friday night by using false identification, and then escaped after a brief foot chase.

Officers re-encountered the suspect Saturday night while searching an apartment in the 5700 block of Backlick Road because of a report of a wanted person in a bedroom.

Police say the suspect refused to comply and threatened officers with a sword. Police fired both less-lethal bean bag rounds and real bullets at the suspect. He was transported to a hospital where he died a short time later.

Police say the man, whose name is not being released, had seven outstanding warrants for child pornography, and sex with a minor as well as resisting arrest and identity theft.

The officer involved is on routine administrative leave while the case is investigated. ..Source.. by Hank Silverberg, wtop.com

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FXCO police shoot child porn suspect

5-20-2012:

A Fairfax County police officer shot and killed a suspect involved in child pornography May 19 at the Chelsea Square apartment complex on Backlick Road in North Springfield.

The following information is from the Fairfax County Police Department: The suspect had seven outstanding warrants: Three felony counts of producing child pornography, three felony counts of possessing or reproducing child pornography with the intent to distribute, and a misdemeanor warrant for consensual sexual intercourse with a minor.

Police officers from the Franconia police station encountered the suspect Friday night, but he ran away after giving false identification. As a result, two additional warrants were issued for resisting arrest and identity theft.

Patrol officers and a K9 team were called to the apartment at around 11:08 p.m. Saturday night after receiving a report that a wanted person was hiding in a bedroom. When the suspect failed to comply with their commands and threatened them with a sword, the officers fired at him using both bean bag rounds and lethal rounds. The suspect fell to the ground, and officers provided medical aid and performed CPR. The suspect was transported to the hospital and died a short time later.

One officer has been placed on administrative leave while the case is being investigated.

Update: The police identified the deceased man May 21 as Gray Alan Combs Jr., age 22, of no fixed address. ..Source.. by Annandaleva VA

Police Shooting: Sexual Assault Suspect Killed

3-12-2012 Arkansas:

A Washington County detective was involved in a deadly shooting at a residence just outside Farmington Monday afternoon, according to the sheriff’s office.

The shooting happened at 12571 Leam Blvd around 1:15 p.m. Detectives were there conducting a follow-up investigation of reported sexual assault of a minor, according to Kelly Cantrell with the sheriff’s office.

Detective L. Scott McAfee told Joshua Adams Thomas, 38, to come outside, but he claimed he needed to go back inside the house to get something, according to Cantrell.

The detective told Thomas to wait, but he went back inside the house, slamming the door behind him, according to a report from the sheriff’s office.

Shortly after, Thomas swung the door open, raised a crowbar and tried to hit the detective, Cantrell says.

Det. McAfee shot the man once. Thomas was pronounced dead at the scene by Central EMS responders.

Arkansas State Police will also begin investigating the incident. As part of standard procedure, Det. McAfee will be placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

The Washington County Sherriff's Office is also conducting an internal investigation.

Neighbors had mixed reactions about the man killed by police. One considered him aggressive and controlling.

"And I just know Josh from a distance you know he threatened to shoot my dog one time and to shoot me," said Sheila Carter.

Next door neighbors describe Thomas as a nice and caring person.

"He's always been kind of quiet, kept to himself and he offered us some vegetables that he grows in his garden, just a friendly man," said Lauren Shelley.

Neighbors say they believe Thomas had a criminal history.

"He had mentioned that he had been in trouble before. I don't remember if he said was on parole or probation," said James Shelley.

Det. McAfee was involved in another deadly officer-involved shooting on Feb. 19, 2004, according to Cantrell. He was exonerated by an internal investigation and by the prosecuting attorney. ..Source.. by Alicia Agent/Jocelyne Pruna/Mallory Cooke

Sexual assault suspect killed by police identified

6-20-2011 Arizona:

Tucson Police have identified 43-year-old Ernesto Agramont as the man killed during an incident on Jun. 15.

Diana Lopez, a spokesperson with Tucson Police tells KGUN9 detectives responded to 485 South Stone Avenue to locate and arrest Agramont for child sexual assault and child abuse charges.

When officers arrived, Agramont was immediately confrontational with detectives and made several statements referring to suicide by cop. Detectives asked for assistance to respond and help contain the home while they obtained a search warrant.

A short time later, Agramont exited his residence carrying a large knife. He was given numerous commands to drop the knife, which he refused to do continuing to advance towards officers. Officer Thomas Rizzi a 7-year veteran, Officer Jennifer Galaida a 9-year veteran, Officer James Wakeman a 10-year veteran, Officer Jobe Dickinson an 11-year veteran and Lieutenant Danny Denogean a 21-year veteran of the Tucson Police Department fired their weapons at the male striking him numerous times.

Officers immediately rendered aid to Agramont on scene until paramedics arrived. He was transported to University Medical Center where he died a short time later. ..Source.. by Ina Ronquillo

Police shoot, kill suspect in child sex assault case

Do they have tasers in Arizona?

6-16-2011 Arizona:

A suspect wanted on child sexual assault and abuse charges was shot and killed by Tucson Police on Wednesday after he refused to surrender.

After a months-long investigation police went to the suspect's house on South Stone Avenue near Downtown at about 5 p.m. to serve an arrest warrant. He was accused of assaulting an 8-year-old girl who was not a relative.

When they got to the suspect's door, he was uncooperative, said Diana Lopez, of the Tucson Police Department.

"He would not open the door for police and made several statements of suicide by cop," she said.

When he did emerge a few minutes later he was "armed with a weapon and posed a deadly threat to officers," Lopez said.

She said that officers gave numerous commands for the man to drop his weapon, but he would not. Officers opened fire, killing him.

She said he was pronounced dead at a local hospital. There is no word on what the weapon was or the man's identity.

Stone, between 14th and 17th streets, remains blocked off as homicide and internal affairs officers continue their investigation. ..Source.. KOLD.com

Police: One person shot dead at Garfield Heights gas station

2-27-2011 Ohio:

GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio - Garfield Heights Police said a man was fatally shot by officers after lunging at them with a billy club at a gas station Friday night.

The Cuyahoga County Coroner's office has identified the victim as 50-year-old Sylvester Gavin.

The incident happened just before 9 p.m. at the Marathon in the 14200 block of Broadway.

Police said Gavin entered the gas station and started eating candy and drinking alcohol.

According to police, the suspect had a billy club and was acting strangely. Police ordered the suspect to put the weapon down and get on the floor.

Gavin obeyed the command but then grabbed the club, rose from his knees and lunged at the officers. At that point, the officers fired five rounds at Gavin.

Gavin was taken to Marymount Hospital where he died from his injuries.

Garfield Heights police Capt. Robert said officers do not carry tasers.
Officers went to Gavin’s residence after the incident and found his front door wide open with loud music playing.

According to police, upon entering the residence, officers found the bathtub overflowing and the home flooded.

Gavin had a warrant out for his arrest in Garfield Heights. He had been arrested several times for serious felonies in the past 30 years and was a registered sex offender. ..Source.. by Curtis Jackson

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Fuming: Family members demand answers from cops following fatal shooting

2-27-2011 Ohio:

GARFIELD HEIGHTS, OH (WOIO) - A shooting victim's family wants answers from Garfield Heights Police this weekend following a deadly incident.

This, after police were called to the Marathon Gas station on Broadway and McCracken Friday around 8:15 p.m. when witnesses say Sylvester Gavin, 50, was reportedly acting strange.

Witnesses told police that he was opening and drinking beer, among other things.

Officers arrived on scene and noticed aGavin had a billy club and a knife, so they told him to drop his weapons. Gavin complied, but when officers went to take him into custody he picked up his bat and lunged at officers. That's when two officers fired five shots at Gavin.

Now, family members want to know why police had to shoot their loved one five times. They admit Gavin has done wrong in the past, but the way he died was "overkill" and say "we need to know why they had to shoot him that many times."

"He's not no angel...but he's still a good person. He doesn't deserve to die like he did" said Gavin's nephew Farrell Patterson.

Both officers have been placed on administrative leave.

Gavin has an extensive criminal history including serious felonies. He was also a registered sex offender. ..Source.. by Web Staff WOIO

Man Shot By Police Wielded Fake Gun

If this man was well known to the police, was it also well known he was a registered sex offender?

12-17-2010 Oregon:

UPDATE 4:57 PM — Court records show that Ferguson was a registered sex offender, having been convicted of rape in 1988. The files say he was routinely taking meds for depression and anxiety, including medical marijuana, and had received counseling for alcoholism. Recently, he had been put on probation because he failed to register as a sex offender. That would make Ferguson that fourth person with mental illness to be fatally shot in a Portland police officer-involved-shooting this year.

Records from when Ferguson failed to register in 2007 paint a troubled picture. He was listed as unemployed and a transient, with his address at the seedy Unicorn Hotel on 82nd Avenue. On a page about warning signs, the officer checked "yes" to option reading, "Defendant has no regular, verifiable contact with family or significant others in local community."

KGW has an old booking photo of Ferguson, and his live-in partner, Marsha Lawson (who is listed in court documents both as Ferguson's girlfriend and caregiver), posted this photo of him and a cat on her Myspace.

Original post 4:20 pm:
The man shot and killed by police last night at an East Portland apartment complex aimed a fake gun at police, the cops now report. A photo of a toy gun the police say is a "very accurate depiction" of the gun used in the incident is below the cut.

Officers arrived at the Ventura Park apartments at 3:47 last night, responding to a call from an apartment resident who said a man was threatening them with a 9mm handgun. Officers went to the apartment to contact the suspect, who then aimed the fake handgun at them. The officers quickly fired shots, killing the man who is now known to be 45-year-old Darryel Dwayne Ferguson.

A toddler, two women, and another adult male were in the apartment. One neighbor says he counted 16 shell casings in the hallway.

The door frame has been taken off the apartment, Room 201. Leaning against the building wall, bullet holes were clearly visible in it. Neighbors report that Ferguson would quarrel with other complex residents and that he once showed his neighbor a sawed-off shotgun he said he owned. Neighbors also say he would tell them that he was dying of either cancer or AIDS and that he seemed to have some mental health issues. But he was at turns also very generous—his next door neighbors say he once stopped by and gave them a typewriter for free. ..Source.. by Sarah Mirk

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Fake Gun, Real Death

12-23-2010 Oregon:

Police Kill Man Holding BB Gun

THE FOURTH FATAL police shooting this year of a Portlander battling mental health issues came in the early hours of Friday, December 17, when 45-year-old Darryel Dwayne Ferguson allegedly brandished a fake gun at officers responding to a 911 call in his apartment complex.

Court records reveal Ferguson, a registered sex offender, had been suffering from depression and anxiety, at times taking medicine for his illnesses, and that he was a medical marijuana patient who had also battled substance abuse. Neighbors tell the Mercury he had cancer and was HIV positive—conditions his sister confirmed to the Oregonian.

His death continues a troubling trend this year for a police bureau that sees a large portion of its calls each day involving someone dealing with, in some fashion, mental illness.

"We as a community have decided that [providing adequate treatment] would be an imprudent financial decision on our part," says Jason Renaud of the Mental Health Association of Portland. "As a result, the police get to do the dirty work. It doesn't matter whether they're equipped. We have dumped the responsibility on them."

According to police accounts, the fatal incident began about 3 am, when a resident of the Ventura Park Plaza apartments at East Burnside and 122nd reported being harassed by a drunken man. Police spoke with a man in the building but left after deciding tensions had eased. Soon after, the same resident called again, saying the same man had a 9mm gun and had threatened to shoot him. Officers then knocked on Ferguson's door. He opened it, allegedly while holding a gun, and within seconds was fatally wounded by the officers. The weapon was later found to be a BB gun.

Officers evacuated a toddler and three adults from the apartment. Surrounding neighbors, also evacuated, waited for hours on a TriMet bus as shelter from the cold night.

The police bureau did not release the exact number of wounds Ferguson suffered, but according to autopsy results, Ferguson "died of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen." One neighbor told the Mercury he heard police say afterward that 20 shots were fired.

The two officers in the shooting, Jonathan Kizzar and Kelly Jenson, are on administrative leave. Ferguson's sister told the Oregonian her brother may not have realized it was police knocking when he opened the door holding the BB gun. Police are releasing no more details pending a grand jury investigation.

By Friday afternoon, the bullet-riddled door frame of Ferguson's unit had been removed and was briefly propped up in the hallway.

Neighbors described Ferguson as both quarrelsome and generous. His next-door neighbors say he picked fights with other residents, but also once stopped by just to give them a typewriter and a computer table.

Ferguson's court file shows a troubled history: He was required to register as a sex offender and undergo treatment for substance abuse after a felony rape conviction in 1988. He was charged with assault and harassment in 2003, though the charges were dropped. He was put on probation two years ago for failing to register as a sex offender. He had been living in the Ventura Park complex with his girlfriend for at least a year, neighbors say, but records in 2008 state he had no solid address and had "no regular, verifiable contact with family or significant others in local community." A 2007 record listed Ferguson's address as the Unicorn Hotel. He has been unemployed, living on disability checks and food stamps.

Overall, there were five officer-involved shootings this year (four of them fatal)—the most since 2006—reversing a recent trend in which shootings had plunged in comparison to the rest of the past 18 years. Officials have attributed that drop to things like giving cops Tasers, improved crisis training, and stronger civilian oversight. But Dan Handelman of Portland Copwatch says that's "all been thrown out the window at this point."

Coincidentally the shooting came the same day the Portland Police Association (PPA) submitted a letter to the city asking that the two sides jointly declare an impasse and move the contract bargaining to mediation. The city has agreed, for now, that could mean key issues—like drug testing and civilian oversight—will be hashed out behind closed doors.

At a news conference Monday, December 20, members of the Fire Frashour campaign, a group of activists who had loudly demanded the firing of the officer who shot and killed Aaron Campbell in January, linked the union's decision with the most recent shooting.

"Despite the recent shooting, the city is still closing the police association negotiations to the public," Kathryn Cates said on the steps of the Justice Center. "By agreeing to remove the negotiations from public scrutiny, the city negotiators are colluding with the PPA to preserve the cops' impunity." ..Source.. by Denis C. Theriault and Sarah Mirk

NC officer kills man who came at him with bat

11-15-2010 North Carolina:

SALISBURY, N.C. — A Salisbury police officer has shot and killed a man who investigators say beat his father with a bat before threatening the officer.

The Salisbury Post reported that 46-year-old James Richard Brown was killed Saturday after police say he ignored Officer J.R. Cable's command to drop his bat and instead went after the officer.

Cable is on administrative duty while the shooting is investigated by state police.

Brown's father was taken to a local hospital for treatment, but his injuries were not thought to be life-threatening.

Brown has a long criminal history dating back to at least 1982 and including convictions in North Carolina for assault, drunken driving and drug possession. He also has a couple of assault convictions that have him on sex offender registries in North Carolina and Florida. ..Source.. by WRAL.com

NY- Cops fatally shoot molester from New Hyde Park

10-10-2009 New York:

Nassau cops fatally shot a New Hyde Park man who was struggling with an officer, moments after the suspect sexually molested a young woman whom he had abducted, police said.

Police killed Frank Hernandez Thursday night as he struggled with an officer over a gun, police said Friday. Commissioner Lawrence W. Mulvey called the shooting "completely justified."

Police say Hernandez, whose pants were at his ankles when two officers responding to a 911 call approached him, had what turned out to be a "simulated handgun" in his lap and was still wearing the ski mask he had used to hide his face when he abducted the woman and then sexually assaulted her, police said.

One officer attempted to get Hernandez out of the car when they struggled over both the officer's gun and the fake gun, police said.

The other officer fired several rounds, one striking Hernandez in the wrist and abdomen, the other in his chest, and he was pronounced dead at 11:28 p.m., police said.

"He's really shook up about the whole thing," a source familiar with the investigation said of the officer who shot Hernandez. Mulvey said that officer, who he credited with saving the 22-year-old's life and his own partner's, had been on the job between 4 1/2 and 5 years.

Nassau police said Friday that they are beginning to look into the possibility that Hernandez may be connected to a brutal attack on a teenage girl earlier this week in Great Neck.

The Great Neck assailant also wore a mask. Hernandez is Hispanic and the Great Neck suspect spoke with a Hispanic accent, police said. Police stressed that at this point, they are merely examining parallels between the cases and said Hernandez isn't necessarily a suspect.

In the New Hyde Park incident, Hernandez followed the woman to her Honda sedan after lurking in a Stop & Shop supermarket parking lot, Mulvey said.

Two people outside the supermarket, which is on Hillside Avenue in New Hyde Park, saw Hernandez, witnessed the abduction and called 911 about 10:50 p.m., police said.

The woman had gone to the market to buy ginger ale for an ailing family member, police said.

Hernandez, who lived a few blocks away, drove with the victim in the passenger seat to the back of the store, the witnesses told police. There, he forced her to perform a sex act then drove to a traffic light at Hillside Avenue, where the officers spotted the car and ordered the occupants out.

They took the victim out of the car, but Hernandez refused to get out and told the officer on the driver's side, "Be prepared to die," the source said. Hernandez struggled with the officer, whose gun fell, police said. They then struggled for the officer's gun and Hernandez's fake gun.

The victim was treated and released from a hospital.

A woman who answered the door at Hernandez's home on North Sixth Street said the family was in shock.

"He was the nicest guy in the world," she said.

Hernandez's friend Anthony Marengo, who came to the crime scene Friday morning, was incredulous that Hernandez - a pizza delivery man - was dead.

"He was a kindhearted person who never had a bad word to say about anybody," Marengo said. "He stayed out of trouble most of the time." ..Source.. by MATTHEW CHAYES


Police kill sex assault suspect on Long Island

NEW HYDE PARK (WABC) -- There's little sign of the horror one woman endured here late Thursday night.

But news of the violent crime has sent shockwaves through a place many thought was safe.

It happened around 11:00 pm. Police say Frank Hernandez, 26, was wearing a mask, lurking in the shadows waiting for his prey.

When the 22 year old woman left the supermarket after getting ginger ale for a sick family member, investigators say Hernandez followed her right to her car.

"Taking what appeared to be a shooting type stance, with something held pointing directly at the back of her head, she was pushed into the vehicle in the passenger side," police said

Detectives say he drove her to a dark corner of the parking lot, where he forced her into a sex act and then started to drive away with the victim as a hostage.

He didn't get far.

"He was leaving the scene with her. We'll never really know what the final outcome would have been. The officers very well may have saved her life," investigators said.

Two good Samaritans happened to witness the abduction and called 911. Two officers arrived just in time to box the car in.

When they tried to get Hernandez out, they say he grabbed for an officer's weapon and then pulled out a b-b gun, which looks identical to a police issue Sig Sauer.

When he raised it at one officer, the other opened fire. Hernandez died at hospital.

Hernandez lived just a few blocks away from the stop and shop, where family members denied he'd done anything wrong. ..Source..

NY- Parole officer shoots, kills man who brandished knife in Queens parole office; victim likely parolee

A difficult case but still a death of a sex offender, during the commission of a new crime in the parole office. This man had a history of mental troubles and this seems to fit suicide by cop, especially since it took place inside a parole office.

4-1-2009 New York:

A paroled rapist who was once accused of shooting a cop was gunned down Tuesday after a violent confrontation inside a crowded Queens parole office, officials said.

Eric Reid, 50, refused to hand over the knife he brought into the Jamaica office and briefly took a female officer hostage before he was felled by several shots from parole officers, officials said.

"He grabbed her by the shirt," said a parolee who witnessed the tense standoff and gave his name as Anthony.

"He was holding her by the arm," Anthony said. "Everyone was running, trying to take cover."

Reid - a registered sex offender released from prison in December after serving 19 years for rape and burglary - arrived at the Merrick Blvd. office at 9:30a.m. and balked when an officer asked to search his backpack, officials said.

Witnesses told police Reid removed a steak knife from the bag and tried to hide it from the female officer. When the officer tried to take it from him, the ex-con grabbed the woman and threatened her with the blade, police sources said.

A pair of NYPD cops and several parole officers inside the lobby of the two-story office yelled at Reid to drop the knife, but the ex-con refused, sources said.

"They yelled, 'Let her go! Let her go!'" Anthony said.

Two parole officers opened fire, striking Reid in the head and chest, killing him, police sources said. His hostage was uninjured.

The parole officers who opened fire were identified as Delree Williams, a 10-year veteran of the Division of Parole, and Barry Davis, an 18-year veteran.

In addition to the decades he spent behind bars for a 1988 rape in upstate Schenectady, Reid was jailed two other times on burglary convictions, records show.

Reid also was arrested for shooting a cop in the gut in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, in 1978. He was deemed unfit to stand trial and later escaped from a mental institution. ..News Source.. by Joe Kemp, Alison Gendar and Jonathan Lemire, DAILY NEWS WRITERS

TX- Police Release Names of Officers Involved in Fatal Shooting (of registered sex offender)

8-11-2008 Texas:

Beaumont Police have released the names of two officers involved in the fatal shooting of a man who, according to witnesses, lunged at the officers after cutting several vehicles with a large grilling fork.

Officer Jared Smith shot and killed Daniel Hough, 39, at about 7 p.m. Friday, according to Ofc. Crystal Holmes with the Beaumont Police Department. Holmes says Hough was behaving irrationally, slashing at vehicles and people near the parking lot of the Dollar General Store at Calder and 1st.

Sgt. Stephen Perricone was on the scene and used a taser in an attempt to stop Hough. Ofc. Holmes says the taser had no impact on Hough.

Smith, 30, has been with the Beaumont Police Department since January 4, 2007.

Perricone, 49, became an officer in the Beaumont Police Department on January 27, 1997.

Both officers have been placed on administrative leave with pay, which is standard procedure in a fatal shooting involving police.

Ofc. Holmes says several witnesses provided statements corroborating the officers' version of events and indicating they did everything possible to get Hough to stop before using force against him.

Watch KFDM News for more on the story.

(News Release from Beaumont Police)

This evening around 7:00 p.m. BPD dispatch received several calls in reference to a Hispanic male slashing at people and vehicles with a knife. According to several people in the parking lot of the Dollar General Store on Calder near First street, after the suspect had slashed and stabbed at them, he left walking on Calder. No one was injured. Several callers advised that he had struck their vehicles with his weapon causing damage. One of the victims, a Beaumont woman, called 911 and stayed on her cell phone, giving locations of the suspect to dispatchers.

Officers located the suspect on Laurel at 2nd street. Officers verbally attempted to calm the man down to no avail. The suspect turned toward one of the Officers and lunged at him with the weapon. The Officer fired one round from a short distance, striking the suspect in the chest. He was deceased on scene. Judge Vi McGinnis pronounced him deceased and ordered an autopsy.

The man had no identification on him but Crime Scene Investigators took his fingerprints at the scene and cross referenced a match. The suspect is a 39 year old Beaumont man. His name will not be released pending notification of next of kin.

The weapon used turned out to be a large grilling fork used to pierce meat on a grill. It was seized as evidence and turned into the property division.

Several witnesses were taken to the Beaumont Police Department for statements. As per Departmental Procedure, the officer will be placed on Administrative Leave with pay pending the outcome of the investigation. The investigation continues.

(previous story)

Beaumont Police have released the name of a Beaumont man who was shot and killed last night by one of their officers.

Police say 39 year Daniel Hough of Beaumont was behaving erratically and lunged at the officer in a threatening manner.

That officers name is not being released at this time.

KFDM News has also learned Hough was a registered sex offender in Beaumont.

Police say the shooting happened after they got a call of a man acting strangely near Calder and First and was lunging at cars with a knife.

He'd struck a truck and damaged it.

The driver followed Hough who was on foot and kept dispatchers informed of his location.

Authorities caught up with Hough near Laurel and Second Street, and when officers approached he lunged at one of them in a threatening manner.

Police say the officer was forced to shot Hough once in the chest.

---

TX- Man shot by cop might have been sex offender

8-10-2008 Texas:

BEAUMONT - A man shot by police Friday night might have been a registered sex offender.

Police identified the slain man as 39-year-old Daniel Hough of Beaumont.

According to a Department of Public Safety database, a 39-year-old man named Daniel Hough was listed as a sex offender in Beaumont.

The database lists the man as being deceased.

Hough was shot Friday after lunging at a police officer with a barbecue fork, according to a previous Enterprise story.

A witness had reported that Hough was behaving erratically; slashing at cars with what she thought was a knife along a stretch of Calder Avenue.

Officers caught up with Hough near Laurel and Second Street and commanded him to cooperate.

"He was extremely irrational and then lunged after one of the officers," Beaumont Police Department spokeswoman Officer Crystal Holmes said Friday.

Hough was shot in the chest after lunging at one of the officers, who has not been identified.

Police weren't saying Saturday whether the man was mentally ill or on drugs at the time of the incident.

The officer who shot the man has been placed on administrative leave. ..News Source.. by SARAH MOORE

NC- Suspect dies following exchange with Forsyth deputies

2-29-2008 North Carolina:

CLEMMONS — A Mocksville man was shot and killed after trying to run over a Forsyth County Sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop Friday morning, authorities said.

At 9:54 a.m., deputies on patrol attempted to pull over a 2004 Toyota Camry at the intersection of Lewisville-Clemmons and Holder roads in Clemmons, Forsyth County Sheriff’s Maj. Brad Stanley said.

A deputy requested additional units to respond to the scene and at 10:10 a.m., radio traffic indicated that shots were fired in the area.

Stanley said during the exchange, the suspect struck one of the deputies with his vehicle in an attempt to flee.

Deputies then opened fire as the vehicle sped off and it came to a stop about a tenth of a mile from the scene along Lewisville-Clemmons Road.

EMS responded and transported the suspect to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

The man was later identified as Jovon Antwan Evans, 27, of Mocksville.

Stanley said the five deputies who were involved in the incident have been placed on administrative leave while the State Bureau of Investigations conducts an investigation, which is standard for any officer-related shooting.

Stanley said deputies determined the vehicle Evans was driving had been reported stolen on Oct. 31 to Winston-Salem police from Flow Chevrolet on South Stratford Road in Winston-Salem.

Evans has an extensive criminal history including more than 20 felony convictions ranging from assault on a government official, felony speeding to elude arrest, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and sexual assault charges requiring him to register as a sex offender, Stanley said.

"He wasn’t unfamiliar with the criminal justice system and has been involved and convicted involving a lot of criminal activity," Stanley said.

"It’s unfortunate that Mr. Evans died as a result of these actions, but we are thankful these officers didn’t sustain any major injuries or anything worse." ..more.. by Ryan Seals

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Woman wants answers about husband's shooting by police
3-2-2008 North Carolina:

Keyanna Evans wants answers about the shooting death of her husband, Jovon Antwan Evans.

“I don’t know why the first shots were fired,” she said yesterday. “I still want to know where was he shot, what killed him.”

Jovon Evans died Friday after being shot by a Forsyth County sheriff’s deputy.

Evans was pulled over on Lewisville-Clemmons Road in Clemmons shortly before 10 a.m. Friday by a deputy. Authorities suspected that the car he was driving had been stolen.

After more deputies arrived, Jovon Evans tried to drive away and hit a deputy on his way onto Lewisville-Clemmons Road. At least one deputy fired at the car.

Deputies chased the car on foot until it stopped at Immanuel Baptist Church. Deputies opened the car door and pulled Jovon Evans out of the car. He was not moving. He died at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center later that day.

The five deputies who were on the scene are on paid administrative leave while the State Bureau of Investigation looks into the shooting, said Maj. Brad Stanley, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office. That is standard practice during an SBI investigation.

Stanley said that the sheriff’s office believes that the deputies acted correctly.

Stanley said that, because of the SBI investigation, he could not answer any questions about the shooting, such as why Jovon Evans was pulled over, why deputies fired at him or how many deputies fired their guns. The sheriff’s office is not releasing the deputies’ names at the request of the SBI.

Officials with the SBI could not be reached for comment.

Keyanna Evans said she is upset about the way that Jovon Evans has been portrayed in the media.

“Nobody knows him the way I do. I hate the way they portrayed him on television,” she said.

Authorities have said that Jovon Evans had a long criminal record, including convictions for possession of stolen goods and larceny of motor vehicle. He was also a registered sex offender.

Keyanna Evans said she did not know about all of the criminal convictions. To her, Jovon Evans was a loving husband and father, she said.

The two married in December 2007. A photo in their living room shows the couple standing together at an aquarium in Tennessee while on their honeymoon, beaming at the camera.

“He was loving,” Keyanna Evans said. “He took care of my daughter. She called him daddy.”

Jovon Evans helped around the house, and worked with her daughter and helped her get A’s on her report card for the first time, Keyanna Evans said.

“He worked with her tremendously on her spelling, her math. And I’m so mad that they made him out to be this person he was not,” she said.

Keyanna Evans saw her husband for the last time less than an hour before he died.

Jovon Evans worked for Healthy Homes Solutions, Keyanna Evans said. He came back to their apartment in Clemmons about 9:30 a.m., an hour after he started work, to pick something up.

“He gave me a kiss and said, ‘I have to drop this off, and then I’ll be home,’” she said.

But he never came home. When Keyanna Evans turned on the news at noon, she saw the story about the shooting.

“I didn’t know it was him until I saw his jacket and the shirt I ironed for him the night before,” she said.

Now she is waiting and hoping that the SBI investigation will yield some answers.

“I just want some answers, and I just want somebody to tell me why,” she said. ..more.. by Danielle Deaver

Columbia man dead after police standoff, SLED investigating

7-26-2007 Wisconsin:

COLUMBIA (WIS) - What started as a routine call to a fire turned in to a deadly standoff in Richland County Sunday.

"You can't wait until he gets on top of her and starts to stab her and cut her and decide what you go do at that point," says Sheriff Leon Lott, who's standing by Deputy Kelly Hendrix. Hendrix shot 38-year-old Richard Lewis Catoe, Jr. during a two and a half hour long showdown beginning Sunday morning.

Authorities say it all started around 3:00am Sunday. They believe Catoe may have set fire to his home twice.

Neighbors say it was because his wife left him.

"He said well if I can't live there, ain't nobody going to live there. I'm going to burn this house down," said McKenly Minger.

They say he was also threatening to kill an officer with what police describe as a large hunting knife.

After that, they say the officer then shot Catoe in the stomach once.

"Other officers arrived and the individual still kept the knife at bay and at that point threatened to kill any officer that came near him and stated that he was not going to give himself up," said Columbia Police Chief Dean Crisp.

By that point, the sheriff's department arrived on the scene and began negotiations that they say would last several hours.

"I stood about here, they were there, but you could hear everything that this negotiator had to say. He was very arrogant, so for him to try to negotiate a man putting a knife down, it was done very tacky," Sonya Kennedy told WIS News 10.

"He threatened to stab one of the officers, he actually escaped the perimeter and came toward one of the officers with a knife and at that time one of the sheriff's deputies shot him," said Sheriff Leon Lott.

All of this while they think Catoe was under the influence of drugs. Columbia Police Chief Dean Crisp says, "With my experience, with an individual with that type of behavior it would appear to be some type of amphetamine."

The sheriff's department described Catoe as having abnormal strength, and they say they tried to stop him with Tasers before firing the shots that killed him.

"The officer was put in a position where she had no choice whatsoever. Her life was in danger and so was the life of others," Lott said.

But other witnesses, including friends and neighbors, paint a different picture of what happened. "He wasn't threatening the officers ... they had the upper hand," says John Hutto. Hutto lived a few doors down from Catoe, and described him as a nice man, but also one that had problems.

But those were problems that he says he and other neighbors who knew him could solve without violence. Hutto says, "I went down there and stopped him from arguing and fighting several times and had no problem out of him, asked the police if I could do the same today."

Hutto says they said no. Close friend and neighbor Kennedy says she also offered to talk to Catoe because she knew he would respond to her better than the officers. "Sure, they might have talked with him and given him ample enough time to put the knife down, but he was not causing harm to no one else but himself."

But Lott says he was, and he was out there for the neighborhood's protection. "Mr. Catoe was not the person yesterday that they know all the time."

Coroner Gary Watts says Catoe died as a result of blood loss, after gunshot wounds to the chest and stomach.

Catoe was a convicted sex offender with a laundry list of charges including assaulting a police officer.

Sheriff Lott says shooting Catoe was something his deputy had to do, not something she wanted to do. He added that more officers have been killed in the first six months of this year than in the last 30 years. ..more.. by Trey Paul

Police Shooting: Victim (Sex Offender) Suffered From Schizophrenia!

6-20-2004 Oregon:

ASTORIA, Ore. -- An Astoria man shot and killed by police suffered from schizophrenia, according to his mother.

Neighbors called police Wednesday night after seeing Douglas Pollock on the roof, cutting live electrical wires.

Officers shot 41-year-old Pollock five times inside the home after he allegedly came at them with a baseball bat.

Pollock was a convicted sex offender and recently served jail time for failing to register as such.

"He was a kind and loving person. He wouldn't hurt anybody," Pollock's mother, Catherine, told KOIN.

Two officers involved are on leave until the investigation is complete. ..more.. by KOIN.com

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Police killing in Astoria

6-17-2004 Oregon:

Catherine Pollock, the mother of Doug Pollock who was killed Wednesday by police, stands at the police line this morning. Patrice Stanley, a neighbor who talked with Cathy Pollock, said, "She looked at me and said 'I told them not to shoot him.'"

Pollock had record; officers on paid administrative leave

The man Astoria police shot dead in his home Wednesday night might have been mentally ill. A neighbor reported that the man's mother begged police not to shoot him.

An autopsy on the dead man, Douglas Eugene Pollock Jr., is scheduled for Friday, Clatsop County District Attorney Josh Marquis said this morning.

Two Astoria police officers are on paid administrative leave while detectives from other agencies in Clatsop County investigate what happened. The names of the officers involved in the shooting have not been released.

Clatsop County court records show that Pollock has had extensive dealings with law enforcement agencies over the past few years. He recently served jail time for failing to register as a sex offender.

The incident that led to the death of 41-year-old Pollock began when a neighbor saw him on the roof of the house at 218 Franklin Ave. at 7:30 p.m. cutting electrical wires. He shared the home with his mother, Catherine Pollock.

====================

Thursday morning, investigators gather on the deck of a Franklin Avenue duplex where an Astoria man, Douglas Eugene Pollock Jr., was shot and killed Wednesday night.

The neighbor, Astoria High School Principal Larry Lockett, who lives around the corner on Second Street, said he was watering his lawn,when he heard a pop and saw a big man with a beard "lumbering across the roof."

Lockett said live wires were on the ground, so he called police.

He said an Astoria police officer responded, then called for back-up. Two officers went up the steps, and another went to the back of the house, he said.

Lockett said he heard four gunshots come from inside the man's house. Neighbor watched. Patrice Stanley who lives across the street, watched the incident unfold.

Stanley said Cathy Pollock, said she told police her son was a paranoid schizophrenic who was unstable but not dangerous or violent. Stanley said Cathy Pollock told her she begged police not to shoot Pollock, and they said they were using a bean bag gun.

"But the next thing she knew, he was dead right there in her living room," Stanley said Cathy Pollock told her.

Police said the man had a baseball bat, Stanley said, and she saw one officer emerge from the house holding an injured arm.

Eamon and Cathy Pollock, the brother and mother of Doug Pollock Jr., stand together outside the police line.

=====================

"We were beside ourselves," Stanley said of herself and the victim's mother. "We didn't understand why they didn't mace him or 'Taze' him," she said. "But of course, I wasn't there," Stanley said. "I don't know what he might have said to the police."

Stanley said the usually quiet street was filled with emergency vehicles, including five police cars, an ambulance and a fire engine.

"It was the whole nine yards," Stanley said. "It looked like a circus."

Later, the victim's father, also named Douglas Pollock, arrived from Portland, Stanley said, and began yelling at police, "cussing up a blue streak." Stanley said he yelled, "You SOBs killed my son! Where's the weapon? Where's the baseball bat?"

Stanley said the woman who rents the other side of the duplex,was also very angry and said she would testify against police in court.

Astoria not involved in probe

The case is being investigated by the Clatsop County Major Crimes team, which includes Oregon State Police and the Clatsop County Sheriff's Office.

The Astoria Police department will not take any part in the investigation, Marquis said, because the case involves Astoria police officers.

"They are on paid administrative leave, which is standard practice and does not imply any wrongdoing," Marquis said. He said the Astoria Police Department has been very cooperative.

He declined to offer further details because of the preliminary nature of the interviews, but he confirmed that the incident started with the report of a person cutting a power line.

Marquis said he believed it was the first officer-involved shooting in Astoria in 50 years. ..more.. by SANDRA SWAIN