Associated Press
LAKE STATION, Ind. (AP) - A man who approached a police officer with a broken liquor bottle in each hand was shot to death Wednesday by the officer after ignoring orders to stop, police said.
Police Chief Rich Arnold said the fatal shooting of Brandon J. Haywood, 20, was unfortunate, but justified. County officials are investigating, as is customary in police shootings.
Arnold said Officer Brad Shraeder, 34, shot Haywood, a Gary native, once in the chest and once in the leg after he kept walking toward the retreating officer despite repeated instructions to stop.
Haywood was pronounced dead at the scene.
Shortly before the shooting, officers reported Haywood said, “Your weapons will not be effective against my God.”
A spokesman from the Lake County coroner’s office said the shooting has been classified as a homicide.
Arnold said Shraeder, who has been a Lake Station officer for about 18 months since transferring from Hebron, spent time with the department chaplain after the shooting.
He was later interviewed by Lake County police investigators.
“It’s not only tragic for the victim, but also for the officers who will have to live with this for the rest of their lives,” Arnold said.