Gila River officer shoots, kills man

Put on leave; bat-wielding claimed

Lindsey Collom

The Arizona Republic

Jan. 13, 2005 12:00 AM

A Gila River officer is on leave after police say he fatally shot a bat-wielding man who lunged at another officer.

A man in his 20s died Monday outside a home eight miles north of Maricopa on the Gila River Reservation. The officer is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an FBI and internal investigation.

Authorities have not released the names of the victim or officer, who has one year of law enforcement experience. advertisement



Chief Ken Witkowski described the events this way:

The officer went to the home about 9:30 p.m. Monday on reports that a man with a baseball bat broke a window and smashed items in the house.

The officer and the suspect got into a verbal altercation after the suspect's father, who was wanted on several warrants, was arrested for interference. A second officer arrived and tried to subdue the suspect by firing a pepperball at him, but he retreated to the house. A pepperball is similar to a paintball and explodes on impact, but it's filled with pepper powder.

The suspect's brother emerged moments later and was combative. He also was arrested on suspicion of interference.

As the brother was being handcuffed, the suspect came out of the house and moved toward the arresting officer with the bat. He was shot at three times and hit by an undisclosed number of bullets, Witkowski said.

The last officer-involved shooting on the Gila River Reservation was in May, when officers shot and killed one of two carjacking suspects who fired at patrol cars during a chase. The three officers were cleared of any wrongdoing.