Friday, Feb. 27, 2004 | 11:14 a.m.
A Clark County coroner's inquest convened this morning to determine whether a Henderson Police officer was justified in killing a man during a standoff in the parking lot of Fay Galloway Elementary School last month.
The case stems from the Jan. 21 shooting of Hezekiah E. Lewis, 40, of Henderson by Officer Mike Gillis of the department's special response team after Lewis allegedly threatened police during a standoff at 701 Skyline Road, near Horizon Drive.
Shortly before the shooting, Lewis allegedly gunned down Anthony Jackson, 35, in a car parked in the parking lot of the school and then ran into the school looking for his ex-girlfriend, Christine Cook.
Cook, among the first of 20 witnesses expected to testify in the inquest, told the inquest jury that she had been a few steps from the exit at Galloway when she heard a loud popping sound coming from the parking lot.
"I saw (Lewis) standing at Anthony's car and I realized he was shooting Anthony," Cook said.
"Once I heard the sound I grabbed my son and ran back inside," she said.
Cook and Lewis had an on-and-off relationship for several years, she said. The morning of the shooting she had seen Lewis lingering outside her apartment building and had noticed him following her during the day. She said it made her feel uneasy.
Jackson, a co-worker and friend, had been driving her around that day because her car was being repaired.
In the late afternoon he had driven her to Galloway to pick up her 7-year-old son, and as Cook got out of Jackson's car, she said she thought she saw Lewis driving by.
Jackson remained in the car, and minutes later, Cook said, she heard the sound of gunfire.
Cook and her son ran down a hall of the school, out a door and hid behind some playground equipment, she said.
"I didn't want him to kill me and my baby," she said, crying.
After a few minutes, she knocked on the door of the school and someone let her back in, and then she and her son hid in a closet for 20 minutes, she said.
Twenty-seven children were inside the school at the time of the shooting. They were not injured.
After a failed attempt to locate Cook, Lewis returned to the vehicle with Jackson.
Jackson was the woman's current boyfriend, police had said.
Police, not knowing Jackson's condition, approached the car. Police said they asked Lewis to put his gun down several times.
Police allege that after Lewis threatened police, Gillis shot him while he was inside the car, killing him.
Police said they fired at Lewis believing they could rescue Jackson.
Gillis, who has been with the department for nine years, has been on paid leave since the shooting.
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