Bellevue police apologize for Seattle shooting

Published 12:12 pm Tuesday, April 23, 2013

SEATTLE — The Bellevue police chief has apologized to residents of a Seattle neighborhood where a Bellevue SWAT team killed a man last month while trying to arrest the robbery suspect.

Chief Linda Pillo told a community meeting in the Columbia City neighborhood Monday night that officers didn’t want the search warrant action to end as it did.

The suspect, Russell Smith, was killed March 22 and residents awoke to the sounds of screams, gunfire and an explosion.

KOMO-TV reported that Bellevue police are defending their actions. The police shooting is still being reviewed.

———

Information from: KOMO-TV, http://www.komotv.com/