The Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- A woman who police say was being held hostage said officers who rescued had no choice but to shoot the man who had threatened to kill her.
Cathy Ellis, 40, said James F. Hammons Sr., 75, was about to stab her in the chest with a long kitchen knife Sunday morning when police shot him.
“The police saved my life - I know they did,” Ellis said.
Hammons was shot once in the head by Louisville Metro Police Officer John Grissom. He and his partner, Officer Robert Taylor, have been placed on paid administrative leave, as is routine after shootings by police.
Ellis said Monday that Hammons, whom she dated until about a year ago, had threatened to kill her, himself and his grandson. Ellis said she had been dating the grandson since she stopped seeing Hammons.
“He said he was going to put all three of us out of our misery,” she said.
Hammons’ children and brothers Monday questioned why police didn’t take more time to try to negotiate with him.
“Four minutes they gave my father before they took his life, and they say that is justice,” said Michael Hammons, 25, James Hammons’ youngest son and one of seven surviving children.
But a police spokesman said Grissom had no option but to fire when he did because James Hammons was moving the knife toward Ellis’ body.
“They had shouted at him several times to put down the knife and he refused,” said the spokesman, Officer Dwight Mitchell.
Family members reiterated their contention that Hammons suffered from Parkinson’s disease and was too weak to have taken Ellis hostage and used her body as a shield, as she and police described it.
Mitchell has said that the way Hammons held Ellis made it impossible for Taylor, who had a Taser electric gun, to use it. Grissom didn’t have one, police have said.
Chief Robert White has said that it appeared Grissom “certainly acted ... in accordance with our policies and procedures.”