Inquest testimony matches police report of shootings

Bill Gang and Kim Smith

Friday, Oct. 1, 1999 | 11:28 a.m.

The accidental discharge of a shotgun by a police officer set SWAT officers into action and led to the deaths of jail escapee Timothy Blackburn, his wife and two children.

This information, corroborating earlier police reports, came out as a Coroner's Inquest began today into the Aug. 29 incident.

Evidence already released showed that Blackburn had killed his children and his wife, who had helped him escape from the North Las Vegas Detention Center.

Metro SWAT Officer Mark Fowler was the first of 13 witnesses scheduled to testify and told how officers swarmed into the room at the sound of the shot they believed had come from inside.

Blackburn and his family were in the bathroom and several shots were heard before assaulting officers fired through the bathroom door into the suspect, who died at the scene.

Fowler, who was the third officer into the room, recalled hearing one of the other officers yelling, "He shot the kids, he shot the kids."

One of Blackburn's daughters was still alive, the officer said, and she was rushed for treatment to a nearby ambulance where a doctor was waiting. But she could not be saved.

Fowler said the assault followed about three hours of negotiations with Blackburn, who he said had promised repeatedly that he would "take his family with him to heaven" if officers came into their motel room.

The witness said that from the time the errant shot was heard and officers poured into the room until the entire incident concluded was only about 5 seconds.

The officer who fired the initial shot had been assigned to a position near the apartment in the event Blackburn tried to burrow through a wall and escape.

Fowler said the officer was "slinging" his shotgun when it discharged, nearly hitting his foot.

Blackburn, who was a suspected ATM repository robber, and his wife and children died 18 days after Blackburn escaped from the North Las Vegas Detention Center.

Now, the Coroner's Inquest jurors must decide what, if any, role members of Metro Police's SWAT team played in their deaths.

According to authorities, Blackburn, 25, escaped from the jail when his wife, Puthea Lee, 24, managed to unscrew a window pane in the jail's visitation area. The pair exchanged gunfire with warrant officers while running across the parking lot to a pickup and then managed to elude police until a tip came in Aug. 28 as to their whereabouts.

Sheriff Jerry Keller said his officers began talking with Blackburn in the early morning hours of Aug. 29, but Blackburn told officers repeatedly he would not return to prison. He also consistently told police that he was going to kill Lee and his daughters, Tiana, 5, and Tiara, 4, Keller said.

Members of the SWAT team agreed that if they heard any shots being fired, they would rush into the motel room and that is what they did. However, Keller said the shot they heard was that of a patrol officer whose shotgun accidentally discharged while he was slinging it over his shoulder.

In the few seconds it took the officers to get from the room's front door to the bathroom door, Keller said Blackburn had shot his daughters and was in the process of shooting his wife.

The officers opened fire, hitting Blacburn five times. An autopsy showed, however, that the fatal bullet came from Blackburn's own gun, Keller said. He said all of the officers' bullets struck above waist level and the family was on the floor.