Shooting put kids in harm's way

Children playing at the Oasis Greens apartment playground found themselves in a deadly situation when a Henderson police officer shot and killed a man Thursday afternoon.

After being stabbed four times by a man believed to be a kidnapping suspect, the officer shot and killed the suspect, Henderson police said.

The shooting occurred several feet from where a group of children were riding bikes and playing in the Henderson apartment complex at 2001 Ramrod Ave.

"I was watering the grass when I heard the shots and I was worried about the kids," Oasis Greens resident George Anderson said. "I told them to get down and then I got a towel for the officer, who was scared and screaming. He was bleeding pretty badly and his left arm was just kind of hanging there."

The officer was taken to University Medical Center, where he was treated and released for a stab wound in the chest, two in the arm and one in the head just behind his ear, Henderson Police Capt. Monty Sparks said.

The officer, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, and his partner were responding to the apartment complex on a call of a possible kidnaping at about 4:15 p.m. The officers split up to check out two different apartments, Sparks said.

"One of the officers made contact with a possible suspect, who then started stabbing him," Sparks said. "The officer managed to draw his service revolver and fired, killing the suspect."

Police are still investigating how many shots were fired by the officer, but residents say they heard several shots.

"I was in my kitchen running water when I heard a couple of shots, then I heard four or five more as I went outside," complex resident Randy Dillinger said. "There was a guy laying face down with the cop standing over him with his weapon drawn."

The suspect did not live in the apartments, but police believe his girlfriend did and that they may have been having an argument before the officers arrived.

"He would come by all the time and his girlfriend was a friend of my wife's," Anderson said. "He had been hanging around all day waiting for her (the girlfriend) to get home."

Police are still investigating the incident, and are gathering witness statements in an effort to get a complete picture of what happened, Sparks said.

The name of the officer who was stabbed will not be released until 72 hours after the incident, and he has been placed on paid administrative leave, per department policy.

The last officer involved in a fatal shooting in the valley was on Nov. 10, 1998, when a Metro officer shot and killed Frank Lemos to end his front-end loader rampage at the Apex Chemical Lime Corp.

archive