Coroner’s inquest to rule in standoff shooting

Stephen Curran

Friday, March 25, 2005 | 11:09 a.m.

A Clark County coroner's inquest jury was expected to decide today whether a Metro Police veteran's killing of a knife-wielding man earlier this year was justified.

Officer Mark Fowler shot Daniel Kloskowski, 33, once in the head after a more than seven-hour standoff between the Las Vegas man and a Metro SWAT team on Feb. 14.

Police said Fowler, 39 at the time of the shooting, was assigned to Metro's SWAT unit and has been with the department since 1989.

Kloskowski, who police and family members said had a history of mental illness, allegedly had held his 70-year-old mother and brother hostage at knifepoint in their small apartment in the 900 block of East Twain Avenue. Investigators said his mother, Frances Kloskowski, had been punched repeatedly in the head and face. She was later released from Sunrise Hospital, a hospital spokeswoman said.

His brother, Michael Kloskowski, 36, was also treated at Sunrise for a minor stab wound, a hospital spokeswoman said. According to police, Daniel Kloskowski repeatedly threatened to kill his family members, with whom he lived in the apartment.

Frances Kloskowski, dressed in a denim jacket and track pants, took the stand this morning and said her son had come to live with her before the incident.

Daniel Kloskowski had been living in a halfway house following a home invasion conviction, his mother said.

"I guess he got tired of that halfway house and came to live with me," she said. "I didn't want him living on the streets."

He promised he would get a job but never did, she said.

Frances Kloskowski said he son had been prescribed medication to keep a bipolar disorder in check but did not regularly take it.

When asked by Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Lalli to identify the specific medication her son had been prescribed, Frances Kloskowski said all she knew was that the pills were blue.

The night before the standoff Daniel Kloskowski attempted to force her to take those pills, she said.

Daniel Kloskowski's death was the most recent officer-involved shooting for the police department, Officer Jose Montoya, a Metro spokesman, said Thursday. It was the second fatal shooting by a Metro officer this year, he said.

Officers in 2004 shot 21 people, killing 10 of them, Montoya said.

An inquest jury last month ruled that Metro Officers David Garris, David Dilullo and Sean Malia were justified in the Jan. 4 shooting of 28-year-old Jeffrey Gaddis. According to police, Garris had pointed a gun at Gaddis and yelled for him to put his hands up, but the robbery suspect instead began reaching for a handgun, prompting the officers to fire.