COLUMBUS, Ohio – A Columbus police officer opened fire on a knife-wielding man on the South Side Wednesday night, sending him to the hospital in stable condition.
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After a man told a 911 dispatcher that he didn’t want to live, two officers went to his home on Harland Drive just after 10:00 p.m. and knocked on the front door, according to police spokesman Sgt. Rich Weiner.
A man holding a knife came out of the door as Weiner says the officers tried to retreat. The man ignored commands to drop the knife and continued to advance so one officer deployed his Taser to no effect, said Weiner.
The other officer fired multiple shots at the man, striking him once and stopping his continued advancement towards the officers, so the second officer opened fire, Weiner said.
The man was listed in stable condition at Grant Medical Center with a gunshot wound in his hip, said Weiner, and no other injuries were reported.
Weiner says alcohol appeared to have played a role in the incident.
As in all police involved shootings, Weiner says the incident will be investigated by the Critical Incident Response Team, made up of specially trained investigators from the Homicide Unit, and the findings will be forwarded to the police division’s Firearms/Police-Involved Death Review Board and senior officers for review.