Holly MatkinLouisville, KY – An attempted homicide suspect was fatally shot by Louisville police as he charged towards them with a semiautomatic weapon on Tuesday (video below).
The incident occurred at the Spring Manor Apartments on Gills Court at approximately 3 p.m., after 33-year-old Terry Davis opened fire on his neighbor, the Courier Journal reported.
The victim, later identified by his family as Jonathan Bush, had just returned from grocery shopping with his fiancé and child when the shooting occurred, according to WAVE.
As the trio was sitting in their vehicle outside their Okolona neighborhood apartment, Davis charged up and yanked Bush out of the car, according to Bush’s family.
Davis then assaulted Bush, and shot him seven times, Bush’s family said.
When Louisville police arrived at the scene, the armed attacker refused to back down, and ignored commands to drop his weapon, the Courier Journal reported.
“His behavior was described as erratic by the witnesses prior to our arrival, and I think we continued to see that once the officers were on scene,” Louisville Police Lieutenant Aaron Cromwell said, according to WDRB.
Police and emergency medical personnel were unable to immediately render aid to Bush due to the 10-minute standoff that ensued.
“I was telling him to put down the gun,” one neighbor told WDRB. “I was like, ‘You surrounded!’ They had him surrounded three ways. They had him surrounded in a way he didn’t even see himself.”
Police attempted to subdue Davis using less-lethal beanbag rounds, but he was undeterred, the Courier Journal reported.
Bodycam footage showed Davis as he took off running across the parking lot, charging towards Louisville Police Officer William Mattingly and Officer Michael Purcell.
The officers repeatedly ordered Davis to drop his gun as they aimed their duty weapons at him from behind the partial cover of a vehicle.
But Davis forged ahead, prompting the officers to open fire just as he closed in on them, bodycam footage showed.
Davis immediately collapsed to the ground, and was taken into custody.
Police recovered his firearm nearby, the Courier Journal reported.
He was rushed to the University of Louisville Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“I think there was a great deal of restraint,” Lt. Crowell said of the encounter. “He’s the one that chose to close that distance and initiate a lethal encounter.”
Neighbor Tim Bonner said that police had no choice but to use deadly force against Davis.
“He had every opportunity to surrender, to drop the gun,” Bonner told WDRB. “They asked him several times. You could hear them yelling out the commands. And when he took off running with the gun forward, there’s nothing they could do. Nothing they could do.”
Bush’s mother, Rhonda Edlin, said that her son is recovering at the hospital, and that he is now able to speak again, WAVE reported.
“He is doing much better,” she explained. “He got shot seven times, [has] two broken arms, [and a] broken shoulder. He had surgery [Tuesday] night all through the night.”
Bush’s family said that Davis was his neighbor, but that they did not believe there were any prior problems between them.
None of the officers involved in the standoff with Davis were injured during the encounter, the Courier Journal reported.
Officer Mattingly, who had over two decades of law enforcement experience when he retired, was rehired by the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department (LMPD) in 2017.
Officer Purcell is an 11-year veteran of the department.
Both have been placed on administrative reassignment.
The LMPD’s Public Integrity Unit is handling the officer-involved shooting, and the department’s homicide unit is investigating the attack on Bush.
You can watch bodycam footage of the officer’s encounter with Davis in the video below: