Matthew Laswell called 911 to report strangers were breaking into his home.
They were wearing gas masks, and hanging from fans, he urgently tells a dispatcher, an audio recording of the call shows.
Laswell speaks with urgency as he pleads with the dispatcher to send help quickly.
Before Pima County Sheriff’s Department Officers could respond to the 911 call labeled as a likely mental health matter, a nearby off-duty Tucson police officer who told an acquaintance to call 911 then went to check what he thought were calls of distress, confronted Laswell.
Officer Noah Wade shot and seriously wounded Laswell in a confrontation at an apartment complex in the 4600 block of East Skyline Drive partially captured on video.
Laswell, who was carrying two knives, was arrested on suspicion of felony aggravated assault, according the the Pima Regional Critical Incident Team, a multi-agency group that investigates officer-involved shootings here.
He was rushed to the hospital where he was under police custody.
That meant his family was unable to visit him, or even be updated on his healing, says Matthew Schmidt, Lawell’s lawyer who is looking at filing a civil lawsuit over the incident.
In the meantime, a grand jury decided there was no probable cause to charge Laswell with a crime.
The shooting
According to police reports, Wade was visiting his girlfriend at the same apartment complex as Laswell on the afternoon of April 17 when he heard what he believed to be an old man calling for help, he told Pima County deputies. Believing the man might have fallen and be in need of help, Wade told police he went in search of the source of noise.
During his search, Wade came upon a woman walking her dog, and speaking to a man through a closed window, police reports say.
The woman promised Laswell she’d stay with him until help arrived, she wrote in her official statement to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.
It was then, she said, that a man crept up behind her with a gun. He shooed her away from the window and onto the sidewalk, without identifying himself as a police officer, the witness said.
The witness told police that Wade never gave Laswell instructions to drop the knives he had been holding.
Further, the woman said Laswell never charged at her or Wade before the shooting, she said in her statement.
She told Pima County Deputies that she believed Laswell had exited his apartment to see if the two were still outside, as they were now blocked from his line of sight.
Laswell was not intending to hurt anyone, but was seeking help during some type of mental health crisis, she said in her statement.
“At this point, I was planning to stay and continue to de-escalate while (Wade) goes for some help, but I never got to make that suggestion,” the witness said. “… The ‘cop’ just shoots him! He didn’t say a word, just repositioned himself and shot him. He never identified himself as a cop, never said ‘Drop the knife’ or ‘on your knees’, or ‘Get on the ground.
“Nothing. Just BANG!” she wrote in her narrative of events, describing Wade’s demeanor as “unprofessional” and inappropriate.
She also told PCSD deputies that she was more afraid of Wade than Laswell.
The aftermath
“Without the witness, we’d be having a completely different conversation,” said Laswell’s attorney Matthew Schmidt. Because he was off-duty, Wade had no body camera rolling, therefore, there would be nothing to capture what happened between Laswell and the officer.
Laswell was in the hospital guarded by deputies for almost a month, Schmidt says.
Since he was in custody, his family was not allowed to see Laswell, or even get medical updates. Schmidt said Laswell’s lawyers were even denied entry into the hospital room without obtaining permission.
On May 16, the case was taken to a Pima County gran jury, which did not return a bill.
Schmidt called the lack of an indictment incredibly rare.
The Pima County Attorney Office confirmed no criminal charges have been filed against Laswell.
Tucson police said only that Wade, a five-year-veteran of the department, has returned to duty.
