Tulsa police fatally shoot suspect
BY AMANDA BLAND & JERRY WOFFORD World Staff Writers
Friday, November 30, 2012
11/30/12 at 7:28 AM
Tulsa police fatally shot a shooting suspect after he pointed a gun at officers who were chasing him early Thursday, police said.
Detectives with Tulsa's Fugitive Warrants Unit arrived in the area of 10th Street and Birmingham Avenue around 1:45 a.m. looking for Donald Hallett, 44, police said.
Tulsa County prosecutors had charged Hallett on Tuesday with shooting with intent to kill. He was accused of shooting Lucas Knight, 25, at the Motel 6 at 1010 N. Garnett Road around 12:30 a.m. Nov. 20. Knight was critically wounded, authorities said.
Detectives were investigating reports that Hallett had been seen in the area of 10th and Birmingham on Thursday when Hallett left a home there and began walking west on 10th Street, police said.
When they initiated contact with Hallett, he turned toward the officers with a shotgun in his hands, Officer Jillian Roberson said. He then reportedly ran north between some houses.
Officers caught up with Hallett two blocks away, where he was shot after pointing the shotgun at them, she said.
The names of the officers involved in the shooting had not been released by Thursday night.
The shooting is the eighth involving Tulsa police officers this year. Five of the shootings were fatal, and one of the deaths was determined to be a suicide.
Last year, three people were fatally shot by Tulsa police officers. Two people were shot in each of the three years before that.
Roberson said it's difficult to predict how an individual will react in a potentially deadly situation, which makes it hard to explain why some years have more shootings involving police officers than others.
"We don't know how suspects are going to act towards us," she said. "Our officers in the field are reacting to a subject."
Roberson said officers complete training each year on circumstances related to drawing their guns, and their first priority is safety, she said.
"That's how our officers are trained," Roberson said. "They protect themselves. They protect the citizens."
Tulsa police officer-involved shootings in 2012
March 20: Phillip Steven Doll, 25, was fatally shot during a first-degree burglary in the 900 block of East 36th Street. Doll had recently been named a "person of interest" in the fatal shooting of Natalie Anne Davis, 22. Officers believed the home's resident to be in immediate danger when they shot Doll. The District Attorney's Office ruled the shooting justified.
April 3: Officers responding to a report of a suicidal person fired on Bobby Dale Sutton, 45, who had lunged at officers with a knife inside his residence at the London Square Apartments, 59th Street and Lewis Avenue, police said. Sutton had a reported history of mental illness. He died at St. Francis Hospital. The shooting was ruled justified.
April 20: Maria de Lourdes Vazquez Hernandez, 35, survived multiple gunshot wounds after police were called to investigate a road-rage incident. Hernandez, who officers believed to be armed, was in a car parked outside Las Americas Super Mercado, 2413 E. Admiral Place. She refused to comply with police orders and appeared to be reaching for a weapon in the waistband of her pants when she was shot, officers said.
June 6: Jose Antonio Lozada, 57, was shot in the hand and in the hip outside the home of his estranged wife in the 2000 block of North Delaware Avenue. Police later found Joyce Ann Lozada, 64, dead inside. Lozada is charged with first-degree murder and two counts of feloniously pointing a firearm and remains in the Tulsa Jail. The police shooting was ruled justified.
July 16: Police were investigating multiple reports of attempted armed robberies when they came upon Manuel Sanchez, 32, near Fourth Street and Xanthus Avenue. Sanchez reportedly pointed a gun at officers during a foot pursuit when police fatally shot him in the abdomen and arm. The shooting was ruled justified.
July 19: Armed robbery suspect Davano Pouncil died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound during a police chase. Officers shot at Pouncil as Pouncil pointed a weapon at them near 14th Street and Garnett Road. Police were attempting to apprehend Pouncil after an armed robbery at Julia Ann Donut, 11124 E. Admiral Blvd.
Aug. 26: Harry James Hamilton Jr., 35, was shot in the arm and abdomen after he fired at a squad car during a traffic stop in the 100 block of South Olympia Avenue, police said. He was being pulled over for allegedly failing to yield. Hamilton is charged with shooting with intent to kill, possession of a firearm after a felony conviction and drug possession with intent to distribute and remains in the Tulsa Jail. The police shooting was ruled justified.
Original Print Headline: Police fatally shoot suspect
Amanda Bland 918-581-8413 Jerry Wofford 918-581-8310
amanda.bland@tulsaworld.com jerry.wofford@tulsaworld.com
Associated Images:
Donald Hallett: He was charged Tuesday with shooting with an intent to kill in connection with an incident at a Motel 6 on Nov. 20
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