Officer shoots man to death because of alleged attack

Jen Lawson

Friday, April 18, 2003 | 10:10 a.m.

A Metro Police officer shot and killed a man who allegedly raised a golf club over his head in an apparent attempt to beat the officer this morning.

The shooting happened about 3 a.m. in The Pointes apartments, a sprawling, maze-like complex of more than 400 apartments on University Avenue at Decatur Boulevard.

Metro Lt. Tom Monahan said a woman called police and said a man was passed out outside her apartment at the complex.

A patrol officer and a security guard determined that the man was a resident of the complex, but lived in a different building. They took him back to his own apartment.

When they got to his door, the man said he didn't have his key. The security officer left to get a pass key, Monahan said, but the man found his own key in the meantime and let himself in.

The man invited the officer inside, but the officer declined, saying he needed to get back to work, and that apparently upset the man, Monahan said.

He went inside his apartment and retrieved a golf club, then went back out to the second-story landing outside the door where the officer was standing.

"According to the officer, he fired one shot as the man raised the golf club over his head and began to attack the officer," Monahan said.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene. Alcohol is believed to have been involved. The Clark County coroner's office has not released the man's name, pending family notification.

The officer's name will be withheld for 48 hours in accordance with departmental policy.

The officer has been placed on routine administrative leave.