Sheriff’s office investigating fatal police shooting

EAST RIDGE, Tenn. – Authorities are investigating after a south Tennessee police officer fatally shot a suspect.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports (http://bit.ly/2bF7Zy6) the altercation began at about 6 p.m. Friday when East Ridge police responded to a report of a man wielding a knife.

Police located the suspect outside a home, Hamilton County Sheriff’s spokesman Matt Lea said. The man refused commands and approached the officer with a weapon, prompting the officer to fire, Lea said.

Alec Long lives nearby. He said he was taking groceries inside with his son when he saw a police car coming down the street. He walked back outside in time to see the officer on the driver’s side of the vehicle, aiming a rifle over the hood of his car at the man.

“He told him, ‘Don’t come off your property or I’ll shoot you,’” Long said.

The man was yelling incoherently and ignored those orders, instead running at the officer who shot him four times, Long said.

“He fell straight back,” Long said. “I’m still shaking.”

Long said he didn’t see anything in the suspect’s hands.

Officials have not yet released the name of the officer or the suspect. Lea said he does not know the race of either.

East Ridge is about 8 miles southeast of Chattanooga.

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Information from: Chattanooga Times Free Press, http://www.timesfreepress.com