ST. LOUIS – A five-hour-long police standoff with a man armed with a knife turns fatal when the suspect is shot and killed by police.
The scene unfolded after the man refused to leave an apartment complex on Hodiamont near Page.
St. Louis Metro Police said officers tried to take the suspect into custody for felony warrants including assault. When officers approached him, they said that’s when he barricaded himself and a swat team was called in.
Police brought in an officer that spoke Arabic which is the 61-year-old man’s native language.
“Used tear gas, used tasers, used all non-lethal weapons to bring this to a close, used robots and he defeated all of them, it didn’t work,” said John Green, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Lieutenant.
Once inside police said the suspect lunged at officers with a knife and that’s when officers shot at him. He later died at the hospital from a gunshot wound to the chest.
“It’s hard, they shoot him for no reason…He’s a nice guy, he maybe has mental issues, so he’s usually afraid, said Dalia Atak, a family friend of the suspect. “He doesn’t talk to a lot of people.”
Members of the Sudanese community came out, some trying to help the police.
“One of the organization guys came and was like ‘I speak his Arabic, let me go in there. Whatever happens to me, that’s on me but I’ll bring him out safely, unarmed,’ but they were like ‘No,”‘ said Marwa Mohamed, another family friend of the suspect.
Both women blamed the landlord who called the police. The landlord who wishes to not be identified said on August 31, police evicted both the suspect and his son but both men snuck back in later that night and never left.
Police have yet to confirm these claims.
No further details, including the suspect’s name, have yet to be released.
