Coroner’s inquest clears officer in death

Jen Lawson

Monday, March 1, 2004 | 9:49 a.m.

A Clark County coroner's inquest jury deliberated for about 10 minutes Friday before deciding unanimously that a Henderson Police officer was justified in killing a man outside Fay Galloway Elementary School last month.

Officer Mike Gillis, a member of the department's special response team, was called to the elementary school Jan. 21 along with other SWAT officers after Hezekiah Lewis, 40, shot 35-year-old Anthony Jackson and then sat in Jackson's car with the body.

Officers said they negotiated with Lewis for at least 30 minutes, then decided to take action because they thought Jackson was still alive and in danger. Jackson, however, already had been shot four times with a 9mm handgun in the head, face, arm and chest, a medical examiner testified.

One officer set off a "flash-bang" device to distract Lewis so that other officers could safely approach the car, Gillis told the coroner's inquest jury.

Gillis said he walked to the passenger side of the car, where Lewis sat.

"He had a gun pointed at me," Gillis testified.

Gillis said that prompted him to shoot Lewis three times with his .40-caliber handgun -- twice in the chest and once in the head. Lewis slumped in the car, his gun in his hand next to his head. Officers then realized Jackson was dead, Gillis said.

Lewis' ex-wife, Modestine Lewis-Clark, testified that Lewis came to see her on the day of the shooting. He told her he was going to "go to the other side and take (Jackson) with me," she said. He said he was upset with his ex-girlfriend, Christine Cook, and was jealous of her relationship with Jackson.

Lewis told his ex-wife to watch the news at 6 p.m. and left, she said.

Later, after the shooting, Lewis-Clark found that Lewis had left a videotape for her. It showed Cook playing with the baby she and Lewis share, then Lewis appeared on the screen.

"He said, 'This seems like a happy family, but it's not all it seems to be. This is the woman who has my baby and I love her but she destroyed my world. She used me to make a better life for her and her man,' " Lewis-Clark said.

On the tape, Lewis said he intended to kill himself and Jackson as well as hurting Cook and their child.

Lewis-Clark said she tried to call Henderson Police to tell them about the videotape but couldn't get through right away.

She said the tape upset her so much that she cut it up and then put it in the microwave oven to destroy it.

Earlier in the inquest, Cook had testified that she and Jackson went to the elementary school to pick up her son. She was walking out of the school when she saw Lewis fire several shots into Jackson's car.