By Jackee Coe
The Arizona Republic
MESA, Ariz. — A man with a butcher knife was shot and killed by a Mesa police officer Monday morning at a mobile home park in west Mesa.
Police said the officer was called to the Fiesta Village mobile home park near Southern Avenue and Country Club Drive about 7:15 a.m. for a welfare check on a woman who lived there.
The woman and her boyfriend apparently were fighting, and by the time the officer arrived they were driving around the park in separate cars, with the man chasing the woman. When the officer pulled up behind the vehicles, the woman jumped out and ran back to the officer seeking protection, police Detective Steve Berry said.
The boyfriend got out of his vehicle and approached the squad car with a butcher knife in his hand, Berry said. The officer ordered him to drop the knife several times but the man continued advancing, police said.
The officer, who has not been identified, fired “an unknown number of times,” and the man died at the scene.
Police did not know if the man lived at the park. The officer was not injured.
Berry said it is protocol for an officer to use deadly force if they or somebody they are protecting feels threatened.
“Our suspect was very intent on harming the victim,” Berry said.
Copyright 2008 The Arizona Republic