Nashville officer fatally shoots burglary suspect

NASHVILLE - A burglary suspect died after he was shot by a police officer who thought he had a weapon, Nashville police said.

Police spokesman Don Aaron told WTVF-TV in Nashville that Metro Police K-9 Officer Joe Shelton responded to a call about a burglary in the Edgehill area on Friday morning and found the suspect fleeing the home.

The police identified the suspect as Reginald Dewayne Wallace, 40.

Police said Shelton and his dog, Memphis, chased after him and found him hiding under a deck. The man came out after the dog grabbed him.

"Shelton saw him trying to go for something," he said. "He could see something was silver - not knowing what the suspect was about to do - fearing that the suspect was about to put him in imminent danger with some type weapon, Officer Shelton fired."

Shelton fired three times, police said.

Police said the man was unarmed, but he had a silver iPod that he allegedly stole from the home.

It was the second time in less than a day that a Nashville police officer shot a suspect. On Thursday night, an officer wounded a man after he stabbed another officer. Police said the suspect, Pedro Valencia Barragan, was in stable condition at Vanderbilt University Medical Center on Friday.

Shelton, a 21 year veteran of the police department, has been placed on administrative assignment while the shooting is investigated.

The television station also reported that the same officer was involved in a fatal shooting during a gas station robbery in 2007. Shelton confronted Charles Jamie Walden, 18, as he was running out of the convenience store. According the police report, Shelton fired when Walden pointed a gun at Shelton and refused to drop it.

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