Inquest set in Henderson shooting

Friday, Aug. 5, 2005 | 9:30 a.m.

A Clark County coroner's inquest jury is scheduled to decide today whether four Henderson Police officers acted properly when they shot a woman who pointed a sawed-off shotgun at them on Sunset Road.

The incident occurred June 21 after residents of the Midway Trailer Park on Merlayne Drive called police and said someone had fired a shotgun, police said.

A woman, later identified as Donna Morrow, was seen leaving the area with a gun. Police said officers found her a short time later walking along Sunset Road near Burns Road.

Police said Morrow raised the gun and all four of the officers -- Sgt. Michael Mattoon and patrol officers Chris Dellacanal, Randal Galbraith and Matthew Engel -- fired their weapons, killing her.

It was the first shooting involving a Henderson officer since Jan. 21, 2004,

That previous shooting occurred in the parking lot of Fay Galloway Elementary School.

Hezekiah Lewis, 40, apparently motivated by romantic jealousy, shot and killed 35-year-old Anthony Jackson as he sat in a car at the school. Lewis was killed by police after a standoff ended in gunfire when Lewis allegedly pointed a gun at an officer.

A coroner's inquest jury cleared the police involved in that case.