Associated Press
NORFOLK, Va. — A fugitive described in an alert as armed and dangerous was fatally shot when officers confronted him, police in Virginia said.
Two officers on routine patrol about 4 a.m. Friday spotted the man walking in the road, Norfolk police spokeswoman Cpl. Melinda Wray said by phone. The officers confirmed the man was a wanted fugitive and an alert described him as armed and dangerous, she said. Wray did not have details of the charges the man faced.
When officers got out of their vehicle and confronted the man, one officer fired, striking and killing the man, Wray said. She didn’t know what prompted the shooting or whether the man had a weapon. The officers weren’t injured.
Laticia Stith told the Virginian-Pilot that she heard five shots and looked out the window of her sister’s apartment to see one man standing over another in the street. She didn’t realize initially that the man was an officer. Stith said the man stood there without touching the man on the ground and she didn’t see anyone else near them.
Stith walked down to the street to tell police what she saw, but said she couldn’t stop looking outside when she returned.
“I couldn’t sleep,” Stith said. “I just couldn’t stop looking at the man on the ground.”
The officers were wearing body cameras, but Wray didn’t know if they were activated. Both officers will be placed on routine administrative duty, she said.
Police are not releasing the man’s name pending notification of his next of kin, she said. Wray did not know the race of the man or the officers. Race hasn’t been raised as a factor, but the question comes amid a national debate about the deaths of black men at the hands of police.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press