Sandy MaloneSt. Louis, MO – The former St. Louis police officer who fatally shot St. Louis Police Officer Katlyn Alix in a game of Russian roulette said his married girlfriend knew the risks and had previously engaged in gun play.
Former St. Louis Police Officer Nathaniel Hendren made the remarks that pointed the finger back at his victim on March 11 in his response to a lawsuit filed by Officer Alix’s mother, KSDK reported.
Aimee L. Wahlers, Officer Alix’s mother, filed a wrongful death lawsuit on Oct. 9, 2019 that claimed Hendren had a “complicated psychiatric history” before he ever became a police officer.
Wahlers’ suit alleged that Officer Hendren had a history of forcing his girlfriends to play Russian roulette.
It also said that the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department should have known Officer Hendren had psychiatric problems when they hired him, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Officer Alix, 24, was fatally shot just before 1 a.m. on Jan. 24 while visiting then-Officer Hendren and his partner, Officer Patrick Riordan, at Officer Hendren’s apartment in the 700-block of Dover Place while the two men were on duty.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Officer Alix was off-duty when she met the two men after night shift roll call to socialize.
According to Officer Riordan, Officer Alix and Officer Hendren were “consuming alcohol beverages and playing with their off-duty weapons,” KMOV reported.
While at the house, Officer Hendren grabbed a revolver that was not a department-issued weapon, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Officer Riordan told police that Officers Hendren and Alix engaged in a game of Russian roulette, and that he reminded the two that they were police officers, shouldn’t be playing with guns, and said he wanted no part of it.
He said he started to leave when Officer Hendren took the gun and pulled the trigger while it was pointed at Officer Alix’s chest.
That time, the gun fired, striking Officer Alix in the chest.
Hendren pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of armed criminal action on Feb. 28 in an agreement that sentenced him to seven years in prison.
The former police officer claimed in his response to the lawsuit that Officer Alix initiated their get-together the night she was killed.
He said she texted him and asked him to hang out and then later texted “Come see me,” KSDK reported.
Hendren’s response to the lawsuit said that Officer Alix was waiting for him and his partner when they arrived at Hendren’s home, which was located outside their patrol area.
He claimed Officer Alix was the first person to pull out a weapon the night she was shot, and that she fired Hendren’s revolver, loaded with one bullet, at him before handing the weapon over to Hendren to fire at her, according to KSDK.
Hendren disputed Wahlers’ allegation that he dropped Office Alix multiple times after he shot her but said he’d had trouble putting Officer Alix into his car to take her to the hospital.
In his response, Hendren admitted he had been having a relationship with Officer Alix, who was married to another St. Louis Police Officer at the time, KSDK reported.
He claimed Officer Alix was planning to get a divorce and had started to move in with him.
Hendren denied Wahlers’ assertion that he had prior mental health issues or had forced girlfriends to play Russian roulette in the past, KSDK reported.
Instead, Hendren’s response to the lawsuit said Officer Alix had “previously and voluntarily engaged in gun play with at least one other individual prior to her death, on another time and date.”