Cops fatally shoot man on St. Charles Avenue

By Bruce Nolan

About a dozen New Orleans police officers, guns drawn and leveled, confronted an agitated man with a knife on St. Charles Avenue on Monday, repeatedly commanded him to drop the weapon as he slowly backpedaled for nearly a block, and shot him to death when he lunged at one of them, police said.

Police did not identify the man after the 3 p.m. incident, other than to say he was 38 years old. Some people who work in businesses along the 1700 block of St. Charles Avenue said he was a familiar figure in the neighborhood. Several said they believed he was mentally ill, although they did not know him to be violent

Police said they tried unsuccessfully to disable him with pepper spray before he finally lunged at them, coming so close that one officer had to step back to avoid the man's 3-inch knife.

The unidentified man went down in a hail of gunfire. Witnesses reported hearing too many gunshots to differentiate. Investigators working the scene at the corner of St. Charles and Felicity Street later put down about 10 evidence markers in the street like those used to mark spent shell casings.

Police spokesman David Adams said the incident began at a Walgreens at St. Charles and Felicity. Adams did not describe the incident there, but a customer who identified herself as Evangelist Jackson said the man became agitated and got into an argument with a store employee, perhaps over a credit card that would not work.

She said the man swung at the employee but did not hurt him seriously. "It was more like, you know, a slap or something," said Jackson. She said she saw him leave the drug store parking lot, walking downtown.

The store manager declined to comment about the incident. He referred questions to a corporate office, which did not return a telephone call.

About a block away, an off-duty St. Bernard sheriff's deputy saw him and flagged a passing police officer, Adams said.

Within minutes, 10 or more police officers had arrived. They left their cars and, guns drawn, were trying to confine the man in the middle of the downtown lanes of the avenue in front of apartments at 1750 St. Charles Ave.

Videotape of the event was shot by videographer Phin Percy, who said the sound of sirens drew him to his second-floor window overlooking St. Charles Avenue. The tape shows about a dozen officers in the street and on the neutral ground confronting the man, with their weapons leveled at him.

The man slowly backpedals up the street, waving his arms at them and keeping his distance. The officers keep pace, guns pointed at him. He appears to be holding a small knife in his right hand. Police said the knife carried a 3-inch blade.

Percy said he stopped taping when the knot of people moved behind a tree, which obscured his view. He left his position to run outdoors and heard the shots before he reached the sidewalk.

Adams said he did not know how many officers had fired their weapons, but that they would be put on administrative leave while the investigation unfolds. 

Source: Times-Picayune (Tuesday, December 27, 2005)

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Ministers urge NOPD to reconsider 'shoot to kill' policy

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A group of ministers met with New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley today to ask him to reconsider the department's policy on shooting to kill.

The meeting comes three days after police killed 38- year-old Anthony Hayes, who was wielding a hunting knife. Hayes' confrontation with 18 officers, though not the shooting itself, was taped by at least three bystanders.

Riley says two sergeants and one patrol officer fired nine bullets after Hayes tried to stab a lieutenant. He says he did not have an autopsy report, so he did not know how many bullets hit Hayes.

The Rev. Norwood Thompson, a member of the national board of the Southern Christian Leadership Council and pastor at Jesus Never Fails Christian Church, said it was obvious from the videotape that Hayes was mentally ill. He said police should have been able to "overtake a man who may be mentally incapacitated without killing him.''

Riley says a police review will determine whether proper procedures were followed.

He says that all witness accounts indicate the shooting was justified.

Ministers who had said before Thursday's meeting that police should have aimed at Hayes' legs, to stop him rather than kill him, said afterward that they understood why the officers hadn't done so. "The reason a lot of police do not shoot at legs is that the bullet might travel through and hit someone else," said the Rev. Marie Galatas.

She and Thompson said they both still want a change in policy, so that officers are not trained to shoot only to kill.

Riley said he is looking at several alternatives to bullets, and spoke on Wednesday with representatives of two companies selling such weapons. He wouldn't say whether he is considering stun guns, rubber bullets or something else, but said the representatives will be in New Orleans "later in January."

"We want to ensure we do all we can to de-escalate situations," he said.

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3 Katrina evacuees in Texas die in apparent murder-suicide

GRAPEVINE, Texas -- A family of three Hurricane Katrina evacuees facing eviction was found dead in their Texas apartment in what appears to be a double murder-suicide, authorities said.

Police were called Friday [12/30/05] by the apartment complex to assist in the eviction and discovered the bodies, said police Sgt. Todd Dearing in Grapevine, near Dallas.

Found with gunshot wounds were a 40-year-old man, a 37-year-old woman and a 14-year-old boy, all from Louisiana. Police found a shotgun believed to be the weapon, Dearing said.

Police were searching for a 16-year-old daughter they believe was living elsewhere, he said. Names were being withheld until relatives could be notified.

A resident told the complex Thursday of hearing what sounded like three gunshots near the victims' apartment, Dearing said. Police were called but left when no one answered the door.

"There was no reason for us to make entry," Dearing said. "They said it was their usual method of not answering the phones or door because they were being evicted."

The family was supposed to leave the apartment Tuesday, but the complex offered a few extra days. The family was receiving assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Dearing said. He did not know how long the family had not been paying rent.

Apartment managers could not be reached for comment Friday. Calls to the complex's leasing office rang unanswered. (AP) Copyright 2004-2005 THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS.

posted 27 December 2005