Aug. 18, 2003 – A man is dead after a police officer shot at him twice as he threatened the officer with a gun in a home on Raphune Hill last Tuesday night, according to a release from the Police Department received on Monday by the Source.
Police went to the residence at 9:51 p.m. after receiving a 911 call reporting gunshots in the area. When the officers arrived, the release said, "they met some resistance on the part of family members, who indicated that no one called the police and everything was okay."
However, one woman at the scene appeared to be bleeding from a wound, and the officers talked with another woman there whom police identified as the mother of Alva "Baboo" Lockhart – the man who was later killed.
The mother told the officers that her son had fire shots in the house, including one at her.
While police were present, Lockhart's wife telephoned the house from an undisclosed location and told them her husband had threatened to kill her and she had fled.
As police were questioning family members, according to the release, Lockhart "came up the stairs with what appeared to be a long barrel handgun in his hand."
Police told him several times to put down the weapon. Instead of doing so, the release said, Lockhart pointed the gun at one of the officers.
"Based on training and experience," the release said, the officer fired two shots at Lockhart. One hit him in the chest. Lockhart dropped the weapon, ran downstairs and barricaded himself in a downstairs apartment.
Back-up officers called to the scene found Lockhart "slumped over." Despite medical attention rendered before transporting him to nearby Roy L. Schneider Hospital, the release said, Lockhart died en route to the hospital.
The police officer who fired the shots has been placed on administrative leave. Under the collective bargaining agreement in force between the Police Department and the Police Benevolent Association, the officer will not be publicly identified while the Internal Affairs investigation into the incident is under way.
