Officers cleared in shooting of robbery suspect

Jen Lawson

Monday, Feb. 28, 2005 | 8:52 a.m.

Metro Police Officer David Garris had Jeffrey Gaddis at gunpoint and was yelling for him to put his hands up, but the 28-year-old robbery suspect instead slowly reached for a handgun, Garris said at a coroner's inquest Friday.

"I'm looking at him and I'm thinking, 'Oh, you've got to be kidding me,' " Garris testified.

In a split second, looking through the passenger side window of Gaddis' green Chrysler sedan on the afternoon of Jan. 4, Garris saw the brass of Gaddis' gun, he saw the wood and the chamber.

"I said, 'What are you doing?' " Garris recalled. Then Garris fired.

Metro Officer Sean Malia, who was on the other side of the car, fired at the same time, Garris said. Screaming and thrashing about, Gaddis again tried reaching for his gun, the officers testified. Metro Officer David Dilullo fired four more rounds and Gaddis stopped moving.

Dr. Ronald Knoblock, a medical examiner with the coroner's office, said Gaddis suffered eight gunshot wounds and had methamphetamine in his blood that was "toward the high end of dosage," Knoblock said.

After hearing about four hours of testimony Friday, a coroner's inquest jury deliberated for just 15 minutes before finding the three officers' use of lethal force on Gaddis was justified.

Before his confrontation with police, Gaddis had been at a Walgreens at 5011 E. Sahara Ave. and tried leaving the store with CDs, lotion and some makeup but was stopped outside by employees.

During a brief struggle one of the employees saw a pistol under Gaddis' jacket, so they backed off.

Metro Officer Joe Giannone spotted Gaddis' car and tried to pull it over but Gaddis did not stop, Giannone said. The chase continued for several more minutes, and then Garris, who was waiting on Flamingo in case Gaddis took that route, used his patrol car to stop Gaddis.

Garris' front fender touched the rear fender of Gaddis' car, causing the car to spin 180 degrees. Instead of stalling, Gaddis' car went backwards at a high rate of speed, hitting Garris' cruiser.

Gaddis stayed in his car and at first ignored Garris' commands to show him his hands. When he reached for his gun the officers fired.

Kathy Gaddis said her son had been battling drug and gambling problems for some time, and she believed he had an undiagnosed mental illness. She told the inquest jury Friday that her family knows the police officers only did what they had to do.

Last October, Gaddis tried to get Henderson Police to shoot him at an apartment, according to a police report.