Police say gunshot led to storming of hotel room

Kim Smith

Tuesday, Aug. 31, 1999 | 11:12 a.m.

Despite earlier reports that Metro Police SWAT team members stormed Timothy Blackburn's motel room in an attempt to save the suspected bank robber's family, the gunshot that prompted the forced entry came not from Blackburn, but from an unnamed police officer.

Blackburn shot his wife and two small daughters in the head Sunday as SWAT team members made their way to the bathroom where the family was barricaded, Sheriff Jerry Keller said.

But while the SWAT team members stormed the room because they mistakenly thought Blackburn was carrying out earlier threats, the deaths of his family remain Blackburn's sole responsibility, Keller said.

"This was a classically perfect tactical operation," Keller said at a news conference Monday.

"This was not a mistake."

Keller said Metro received a tip about 10:30 p.m. Saturday that Blackburn was at the Budget Suites of America, 4625 Boulder Highway. Blackburn had been wanted since Aug. 11 after escaping from the North Las Vegas Detention Center, where he had been awaiting trial for a $1 million robbery from a Bank of America automated teller machine repository in Las Vegas.

Three hours after receiving the tip Keller said it was confirmed, and negotiations with Blackburn and his wife, Puthea Lee, began at 2 a.m. Sunday.

Blackburn, 25, insisted throughout the talks that he was not going back to prison and "there were continuous and repeated threats to the lives of the children and themselves," Keller said.

Although there was some discussion about Lee, 24, and the children leaving the room, Lee ultimately told negotiators that "they would rather go to heaven all together," Keller said.

"She said she didn't want to break up the family, that they would rather die," Keller said.

Because of the threats that were being made, Keller said the decision was made that if gunshots were heard from the Blackburn room SWAT team members would storm it.

Shortly before 6:30 a.m., SWAT team members who were in a room adjacent to the Blackburns' heard a muffled gunshot, Keller said. Not knowing that a uniformed officer's shotgun had accidentally discharged as he repositioned it, the officers stormed the motel room.

In the few seconds it took the officers to make it from the room's front door to the bathroom, Blackburn had placed his gun against the heads of 5-year-old Tiana, 4-year-old Tiara and Lee and pulled the trigger one after the other, Keller said.

The officers were just getting to the bathroom when Lee was shot and the officers began firing, Keller said. At the same time, Blackburn fired what proved to be the fatal shot into his own head.

A preliminary investigation shows officers fired 10 shots, striking Blackburn five times, Keller said.

All of the officer's shots were above door-knob level and none of them struck the Blackburn family, Keller said. They were on the bathroom floor.

Blackburn fired his weapon four times -- one for each member of his family and one for himself, Keller said.

Found within the bathroom were some family photos, Keller said. One of the last things Blackburn had said during negotiations was that they wanted to look at those photos.

"We believe that (accidental) shot precipitated our entry, but Timothy Blackburn was in charge of this situation," Keller said. "Timothy Blackburn had the pistol in his hands. Timothy Blackburn shot those kids. Timothy Blackburn shot his wife."

Blackburn could have ended the standoff at any point, Keller said.

"He chose not to," Keller said.

Keller said investigators had learned through confidential informants that Blackburn had planned the robbery of another bank or casino before leaving town. He declined to comment further.

Services for the Blackburn family will be Friday at 11 a.m. at Bunker Mortuary, 925 Las Vegas Blvd. North.

Visitation hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at the mortuary chapel.