Thursday, Jan. 6, 2005 | 9:36 a.m.
Jeffrey Allan Gaddis worked as a manager at a courier service and was described by his former boss as an excellent employee.
But under the surface, struggling with gambling and drug addictions, Gaddis wanted to die, according to police reports.
On Tuesday, three months after an alleged attempt at getting Henderson Police to shoot him, 28-year-old Gaddis robbed a Walgreens and then allegedly pointed a gun at Metro Police officers, who shot and killed him.
From February 2001 to October of last year the 1994 Chapparal High School graduate worked in the runner department of Legal Express, a local business that delivers legal documents. Before he left the company he had risen to the level of process division manager.
John Nicholson, manager of Legal Express, said he was "absolutely" surprised that Gaddis had been shot by police.
"He was a good employee," he said Wednesday. "There are a lot of people here who are sad about this, including me."
Nicholson declined to say why Gaddis no longer worked there, but police reports shed some light as to what was happening in Gaddis' life at the time.
His mother called Henderson Police on Oct. 22 and said her son was suicidal and "it was his intention to have the police shoot him," according to the police report.
When officers arrived at the apartment in the 6100 block of Mountain Vista Street, Gaddis barricaded himself in the bathroom and refused to open the door. An officer kicked the door in, and Gaddis cried and screamed, "Just ... shoot me. I want to die," the report says.
Gaddis' mother told police that her son lived with her and she had not seen him in two days, the report says. She was worried about him due to a drug and gambling problem.
She said he planned to commit suicide by taking an overdose of pills, which he had been hoarding. The day before, Gaddis left notes on several personal items indicating who should get them after he died.
"When she confronted him about these issues," the report says, "He stated that everyone would be better off if he were dead and that if the police were called, he would force (police) to kill him."
Police took Gaddis to University Medical Center for a mental health evaulation.
Aside from a drunken driving arrest in September 1996, Gaddis had no contact with police until this year.
Officer Jose Montoya, Metro Police spokesman, said Gaddis was arrested in July for possession of a dangerous drug without a prescription. He was arrested on the same charge in May, along with possession of a controlled substance under one ounce and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The shooting Tuesday stemmed from Gaddis' alleged attempt to rob a Walgreens at 5011 E. Flamingo Road near Nellis Boulevard shortly before 1 p.m.
Police said Gaddis tried to steal some CDs from the store and flashed a gun at employees who confronted him. Because he allegedly threatened the workers with a weapon, the crime was elevated from shoplifting to robbery.
Gaddis left the store and drove away in a green, older, four-door Plymouth. Officers responding to the drugstore's 911 call spotted Gaddis' car.
After a mile-and-a-half chase, an officer performed a "precision immobilization technique" in which his front fender touched Gaddis' car's rear fender, causing the car to spin and stall.
Gaddis got out of the car and aimed a handgun at the officers, police said. Three shot at him and he died in the eastbound lanes of Flamingo Road.
Police said they found a handgun at the scene.
Sheriff Bill Young said he was displeased over the spate of recent police shootings -- Tuesday's incident was the fifth in just over a month.
But, he added, "They were all justified, in my opinion."
The three officers who shot at Gaddis are on routine paid administrative leave pending a coroner's inquest, which has not yet been scheduled. Their identities are to be released this afternoon, 48 hours after the shooting, in accordance with Metro's policy.
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