OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Latest on a man holding a stick who was shot and killed by an Oklahoma City police officer (all times local):
4:15 p.m.
A man who saw Oklahoma City police officers open fire on his deaf neighbor says the neighbor was developmentally disabled and also didn't speak.
Julio Rayos tells The Oklahoman that 35-year-old Magdiel Sanchez mainly communicated through hand movements. He says he believes Sanchez became frustrated trying to tell the officers what was going on, and that he shouldn't have been killed.
Two officers investigating a hit-and-run involving Sanchez's father Tuesday night shot Sanchez with a gun and a Taser after he left his front porch and approached them holding a metal pipe.
Police Capt. Bo Mathews said Wednesday that Sanchez didn't obey the officers' commands and that they didn't hear witnesses yelling at them that Sanchez was deaf.
Sanchez died at the scene. The officer who fired the gun has been placed on administrative leave while the shooting is investigated.
___
10:20 a.m.
Authorities say Oklahoma City officers who opened fire on a man who was approaching them with a metal pipe in his hands apparently didn't hear witnesses yelling that the man was deaf.
Police Capt. Bo Mathews said Wednesday that 35-year-old Magdiel Sanchez wasn't obeying the officers' commands before one shot him with a gun and the other with a Taser on Tuesday night. He says the officers didn't hear witnesses yelling "he can't hear you" before they fired.
Sanchez died at the scene. The officer who fired the gun has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
Mathews says the officers were investigating a reported hit-and-run. He says a witness told one of the officers the address the vehicle had gone to and that Sanchez was on the porch when the officer arrived. He says Sanchez was holding the metal pipe, which had a leather loop on one end.
A neighbor told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Sanchez carried a stick to ward off stray dogs when he walked at night.
___
10:10 a.m.
A neighbor of a man shot and killed by an Oklahoma City police officer say he was either deaf or hard of hearing and often carried a stick to protect himself from stray dogs.
Police Capt. Bo Mathews says officers were responding to a report of a hit-and-run Tuesday night and said they found a vehicle that matched the description of the one in the crash. He says two officers confronted a man holding a stick near the vehicle.
Mathews says one officer fired a Taser and the other shot with a gun. The man was died at the scene. He has not been named.
Jolie Guebara said Wednesday that she didn't know her neighbor's name, but that he used notes to communicate with her and her husband and often carried the stick when he walked at night.
12:50 a.m.
Oklahoma City police say a man holding a stick was shot and killed by an officer on the city's southeast side.
Police Capt. Bo Mathews says officers were responding to a report of a hit-and-run around 8:15 p.m. Tuesday when they found a vehicle that matched the description of the one in the crash.
Mathews says two officers confronted a man holding a stick near the vehicle. One officer fired a Taser and the other shot the suspect with a firearm.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene. Names of the suspect and the two officers have not been released.
Mathews says the officer who shot the man with the firearm was placed on administrative leave.
An investigation is ongoing.
Reader Comments(0)