While responding to a mental health crisis call, a Tucson police officer shot and killed a man who refused to stop advancing on him with one or two knives in hand, including a large butcher knife, an assistant chief said.
"What happened today is extremely tragic," said Assistant Chief Ramon Batista at the scene of Friday evening's shooting, in which a man described as white, 30 years old and with a history of mental illness died. No police officers were injured.
Just a few hours earlier, Batista had spoken at a news conference held at police headquarters with other local leaders about the "heightened awareness" of risks, and the importance of community relationships, that all police are feeling after five officers were ambushed and slain Thursday night in Dallas, during a protest over this week's shooting deaths of two African-American men by police in Minnesota and Louisiana.
Batista, who was serving as acting chief Friday while Chief Chris Magnus was out of town for a family medical emergency, said at that earlier news conference that protocols wouldn't change in Tucson, where he has a high level of confidence in "our men and women, their training and their professionalism."
That training and professionalism played out those few hours later, Batista said, and although the outcome was tragic, he said he believes at times that there is nothing police can do to prevent that.
Batista gave the following account of the incident:
A Mobile Acute Crisis team that serves residents countywide went to a mobile home on East Rillito, near West Grant Road and North Stone Avenue, to execute a court order involving the man who lived there.
When such teams, known as MAC, encounter a high level of threat or danger, they call in police to help, which they did today.
Three police officers arrived and knocked on the door for 10 to 15 minutes, announcing their presence but getting no answer. Under the court order, they went into the mobile home, and saw a man come out of a back bedroom with one or two knives in his hands.
The officers backed out into the yard, but one officer couldn't back up anymore and the man advanced toward him. The officer warned him to stop but he did not, so he fired.
Two of the officers were highly trained in the specialty of responding to mental health crises. "These officers engage when folks are in crisis ... they're trained to de-escalate" the situations, Batista said. The two were in plainclothes but wore vests saying "Police." The third officer was in uniform.
All have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure during the investigations after officers are involved in a shooting.
Family members of the dead man were at the scene, but did not want to give their names.
A woman who said she was his sister said he had mental issues and because of them, hadn't spoken for months. Family got him the home to live in, and tried to get help for him, but he didn't take medications, she said.
She saw him last week and he hadn't been eating well and needed medical attention, she said.
Earlier, at the community unity news conference, Batista noted that officers experience anxiety when, for example, they make a traffic stop alone and they don't know if the person they stop is going through some anxiety of their own that will escalate the tension. But, he said, the situation in Dallas wouldn't change their professionalism and their open dialogue with community members.
Joining him at the news conference were speakers including Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos; Tucson Police Capt. Chad Kasmar; Deborah Embry, president of the Tucson Urban League; Da-Mond Holt, senior pastor of Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church and president of Justice 4 America; Grady Scott, senior pastor of Grace Temple MBC; Doris Snowden, president of Tucson NAACP; and Juanita Molina, executive director of Border Action Network.
"We honor the sacrifices that first responders make every day, and the risks they face every day, and we pray everyday for their safety," Embry said.
