Man Killed In Shooting Involving Tulsa Police: 'He Put Officers In Danger'

Tulsa Police say they shot a man after he pointed a gun at officers while he was having a mental health crisis.

Police say the man had contacted his son at school, and said he wanted to kill himself, so the school contacted police.

Tulsa Police say the man had told people he planned to commit suicide by cop and once he pointed a gun at them, they had to fire.

"Because of the actions he put officers in danger, put the public in danger, we had two officers fire rounds upon the suspect striking him," Capt. Richard Muelenberg with TPD said.

Officers say when they first arrived, neighbors said they heard gunshots in the man's home, and he'd been shooting at furniture in the front yard.

"Apparently he had been firing rounds off into something inside the home because neighbors had told us they had heard shots being fired from inside the house," said Capt. Muelenberg.

Officers say then, the man came outside, jumped into his truck and drove around the neighborhood but they chose to give him some space.

"He had driven directly at officers, tried to get us to get into a pursuit with him we didn't you know take the bait, we didn't do that and he eventually came back, he parked his truck again and ran back in the house again," Capt. Muelenberg said.

They were worried he would try to leave and go to the school.

"What we didn't want was for him to go to the school and pick up his son," said Capt. Muelenberg.

Police say after going back inside, the man came out twice, the first time waving a rifle and finally, pointing a pistol at officers. That's when police say they fired and the man was killed.

TPD says their officers have mental health crisis training, but this situation left them with no choice

"As far as bringing our mental health team up here we have to secure the location first, clearly it was a chaotic scene, clearly we can't just throw people into a chaotic scene so our attempts is to lock this area down to minimize and increase safety for everyone out here and then start talking to them start negotiating with them," said Capt. Muelenberg. 

The two officers who fired the shots are now on administrative leave until the both the internal and criminal investigations are complete.

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