The day Charles A. Harvey died began with good news - he and his wife were approved for a new home loan. Later, they shopped for groceries.
That evening, Harvey told his wife he had to go out and would be back in a few minutes. Shortly after he left, the phone rang. It was the police. Harvey was dead.
Police had shot him in the East Ridge Fire and Police Service Center parking lot as he threatened them with what turned out to be a pellet gun.
"This is a shock to his family, friends and to the community," said Harvey's son, Randy Crane Jr.
The 54-year-old Rossville man suffered from body pain from multiple back surgeries for fused spinal discs and two artificial hip replacements, Crane said. He had been to hospitals and doctors repeatedly and was on medication, his son said, but found no relief.
"I think he was in so much pain and so much turmoil that he needed help," Crane said. "I think he went to the police department for help and ended up getting gunned down."
He said he hopes the officers followed procedure and, if they were truly threatened, he understands what they did. But he still has questions about why they didn't use Tasers or other nonlethal methods.
"We don't respond to deadly force with nonlethal force," East Ridge police spokesman Erik Hopkins said.
Hamilton County medical examiners will begin an autopsy today on Harvey, who police believe wanted to die at the hands of officers - "suicide by cop."
Neither Crane nor police know why Harvey chose to come to East Ridge Monday night.
"We're still trying to figure that out," Hopkins said.
At a Tuesday afternoon news conference, Hopkins said that, about 6:15 p.m. Monday, Harvey called East Ridge 911, told police he was in the parking lot and had a "serious problem."
Lt. Clint Uselton and Officer Sean Merriman walked out a side door and immediately saw Harvey standing near his pickup truck, a pistol tucked in his waistband.
The men told Harvey not to go for his weapon and drew theirs, Hopkins said, but Harvey verbally threatened officers and reached for the pistol.
Pellet pistol
The number of shots and locations of wounds to Harvey's body will not be available until the medical examiner's report is released.
After the shooting, officers discovered that Harvey was carrying a pellet pistol, which resembled a silver-colored semiautomatic handgun.
"There was no way for officers to know whether it was a real gun or not," Hopkins said.
Crane said he couldn't explain why his father would take a pellet pistol to the department and he hopes to learn more from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation when agents complete their work.
Harvey had no recorded arrest history in East Ridge, Rossville or Walker County. His residence is listed as a Rossville address, but lies near the Catoosa County line and Ringgold Road - the same road that leads directly to the East Ridge police station just over the Tennessee line.
Both East Ridge officers involved in the shooting are on paid administrative leave, which is department policy following officer-involved shootings, Hopkins said. It was the first deadly force incident for both men. Uselton is an 11-year-veteran of the force; Merriman has been an officer for three years, Hopkins said.
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Article: East Ridge police shooting may have been 'suicide by cop'