Two Owensboro police officers fatally shot a man on the city's far west side late Friday night, after the man charged the officers with a knife after a brief standoff on Delray Street, Kentucky State Police officials say.
Lucas G. Anderson, 28, of the 600 block of Delray Street, was fatally shot by OPD officers Mike Matthews and Gary Mattingly during the 11:15 p.m. incident that took place at the Delray Street home. KSP is investigating the incident.
Trooper Corey King, public information officer for KSP in Henderson, said the officers were called to a "active domestic or a fight" at the home, and encountered a man, later identified as Anderson, and a woman. Both are believed to have lived at the residence, King said.
When officers arrived, Anderson grabbed the woman and put a knife to her throat, King said. The woman had cuts on her body and was struck more than once with the blunt end of the knife, King said.
The officers attempted to negotiate with Anderson. After a few minutes, Anderson threw the woman to the side and charged the OPD officers with the knife, King said.
"He charged the two officers standing at the door, after they pleaded with him to drop the knife and let her go," King said.
Anderson was shot multiple times, and the officers "began conducting life-saving measures" but were unsuccessful, KSP reports said. Anderson was pronounced dead at the scene by county coroner Jeff Jones, reports said.
"Any motive would be speculative," King said. "But we can't rule out suicide by cop," or that Anderson intended to injure the officers, he said.
Domestic dispute calls "are the most dangerous calls officers can go to," and sending two officers to a domestic dispute is standard practice, King said. "When someone calls for help (during a domestic call), that perpetrator could easily kill the victim and wait for the officers.
"Owensboro did a very good job in attempting to negotiate with this guy," King said.
The medical examiner's office in Louisville said Anderson died of multiple gunshot wounds, KSP reports said. King said the woman was in stable condition Saturday afternoon at Owensboro Health Regional Hospital, "but she had several lacerations with the knife."
"They had EMS rush to the scene for her," King said. "... We weren't sure how deep the lacerations were." The woman also suffered a leg injury, likely when she was thrown to the side, King said.
Matthews has been with the department since 2009 and is a patrol officer. Mattingly began working with OPD in 2002 and is a patrol and K-9 officer. Matthews and Mattingly were placed on paid administrative leave pending investigation into the incident, which King described as standard procedure in officer-involved shootings.
King said another person, a juvenile, was in the home at the time of the incident. The juvenile was not injured.
"Had these officers not intervened, we don't know what would have happened," King said.
James Mayse, 270-691-7303, jmayse@messenger-inquirer.com, Twitter: @JamesMayse
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.