Man shot, killed in confrontation with Louisville police
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A man was fatally shot during a confrontation with police near a middle school in Louisville when he refused to drop his gun and instead raised it toward two officers Wednesday night, according to police and witness accounts.
Cherylyan Rayhel told The Associated Press that she called police about 8 p.m. after a neighbor fired several shots. Rayhel, who is new to the neighborhood, said she recognized the man but did not know him.
When the man took out a gun and fired it, she said the shots were close enough to vibrate her window. She said she was unsure what, if anything, the man was shooting at.
Officers arrived about 10 minutes later, she said, and approached the man. She said she watched from a back window of her home, alone and frightened.
She said the officers yelled, "Put down the weapon." The man instead raised the gun toward the officers, she said. She said she did not see him fire, but she saw him fall.
"I screamed," Rayhel said. "I haven't slept all night."
Police interviewed her at midnight and again at 4 a.m., she said.
Police spokeswoman Officer Carey Klain confirmed that a call came in at 8 p.m. about a man with a gun near the school. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. Police have not publicly identified the man or the two officers, who have been placed on routine administrative leave while the shooting is investigated.
Rayhel said that before the shooting, she first noticed the man arguing with a woman on the street in front of her house.
A young boy was nearby as well, and Rayhel said she saw the man hug the boy. The man was crying as he walked through Rayhel's lawn to the field behind her house, near the middle school, she said.
Another neighbor, Sherri Reynolds, described the man as friendly and sweet. She said often saw him playing in the neighborhood with a little boy.
Shawn Jones, an eighth-grader at the school, said he also saw the shooting. He said he was with two friends in the field when he saw the man yelling and waving a handgun in the air. Shawn said the man shot into the sky before police arrived.