Man fatally shot by Seattle police was armed with pellet gun

By Erin Van Bronkhorst

Associated Press

SEATTLE – A man shot by police on a busy street was carrying only a pellet gun, Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske says, but the gun was so similar to a lethal weapon that police could not tell the difference.

“At night, in someone’s waistband, in the rain … you tell us an officer could tell the difference,” he challenged reporters at a news conference Monday, less than 24 hours after the fatal Sunday night shooting in the University District.

“There’s absolutely no way that anyone could distinguish between this pellet gun and a firearm,” Kerlikowske said.

The man, Adam L. Alexander, 36, was described by relatives as a carpenter from Priest River, Idaho, with a criminal record and a drinking problem.

Officer Jeff Johnson fired his assault rifle once and hit Alexander in the head, Assistant Chief Nick Metz said. Alexander holding a passer-by as a shield or hostage at the time.

“I think these officers took heroic measures in doing whatever they had to do to free this hostage,” Metz said. He said the officers were in clear sight of the man and risked their own lives.

Police displayed the pellet gun, which appeared identical to a Colt handgun and had the word “Colt” written on the side in two places.

The hostage, in fear for his life, thought Adam Alexander had either a 9-millimeter or a .45-caliber semiautomatic weapon, Metz said.

Alexander was wanted in Seattle on a drug warrant and had six previous felony arrests, including assault, possession of stolen property and possession of a firearm, and at least one conviction, Metz said. Drug-related items were found on him but Metz did not provide details.

Police received calls about 7:30 p.m. Sunday about a man with a gun on University Way in the busy “U District” near the University of Washington. At least one caller said the man appeared to be intoxicated.

The man walked into a Tully’s coffeehouse, said something to an employee and displayed the weapon in his waistband.

The man pounded on a car, then ran south down the street. Johnson and another officer told him “numerous times” to drop the gun, Metz said, but he did not, and went into an alcove at Rite Aid, where he grabbed a man who was talking on a cell phone.

The hostage could feel the man trying to draw his weapon, Metz said.

The second officer aimed his pistol at the man but could not get a clear line of fire, Metz said. Johnson stood in the street, about 9 to 12 feet away, and fired his rifle.

When the man fell to the ground, his weapon also fell, Metz said, so that police do not know if it was in his hand.

Other officers said they do not yet know if the pellet gun was loaded. Pellet guns can injure a person but do not kill.

Johnson, 32, an eight-year veteran from the north precinct, had been trained in the Patrol Rifle Program. A total of 67 such rifles are available for use by Seattle officers and this is the second time one has been used, said Officer A.C. Torrescano.

Torrescano said police nationwide saw a need for increased firepower after a 1997 holdup at a bank in North Hollywood, Calif., in which suspects with fully automatic weapons held off police for 40 minutes.

The Times reported that in 1997, Johnson was named as a defendant in a lawsuit against police filed by former Officer Paul Vang, who accused him of participating in the beating of a teen-ager in a West Precinct holding cell and of helping to drum Vang out of the force to cover it up.

Johnson was cleared in an internal investigation, and his superiors denied Vang’s claims and said Vang was emotionally unstable. A trial ended in a hung jury, and the city settled Vang’s suit for $80,000 in 2000. Johnson has remained a training officer.

“He is considered one of the finer (training officers) the department has,” Officer Duane Fish said.