BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) – A police officer shot and killed a 32-year-old Wyoming man in a hotel in Montana’s largest city early Thursday after he allegedly turned on officers while holding a handgun, Billings Police Chief Rich St. John said.
It was the seventh fatal shooting by law enforcement officers since 2012 in Billings, which has a population of about 110,000 people. All of the prior shootings were ruled justified following coroner’s inquests.
The man reportedly entered the hotel lobby and threatened a female clerk before dawn, pointed the gun at his own head, said he planned to start shooting and refused to drop the weapon during negotiations that lasted about 25 minutes, St. John said.
The unidentified suspect was shot three times in the chest by Officer David Raschkow as the suspect turned toward officers in the lobby with his gun still in his hand, St. John said. The clerk had fled by that time. The suspect died of his wounds several hours later.
“You have the suspect with the handgun turning to face the officer. He may have been attempting to shoot, he may not have. We will not know that,” St. John said. “The officer believed that his fellow officers in this case were at risk.”