When police officers fatally shot a man carrying an "older weapon" – with a bayonet attached – that confronted them in Walnut Hills Monday morning, they had no idea the weapon was not loaded.
Kindly Follow us on twitter @tunmishesblog
"There was not any ammunition present for the weapon," said Assistant Police Chief James Whalen at a press conference Monday afternoon. "The officers, of course, had no way of knowing that at the time."
Officers were responding to a stabbing on Lincoln Avenue at about 5 a.m. Monday. While en route, police learned the stabbing could be a homicide with an armed suspect still in the house, Whalen said.
When they arrived, they watched Gregory Sanders, 37, leave the home he shared with his mother, Deborah Sanders, and walk down the front steps holding the weapon, Whalen said. The officers began to fire at Sanders as he continued toward them with the rifle in firing position.
"(Officers) continued to fire until Mr. Sanders collapsed and went to the ground," Whalen said. "The officers immediately approached and they requested medical aid ... but it was very clear to them at the time that the injuries were catastrophic."
Three of the four officers that responded fired a total of 20 shots, killing Sanders, Whalen said.
Police don't yet know how many shots hit Sanders; he had "some hits to his torso and at least one hit to his head," Whalen said. No officers were hurt.
The officers who responded to the scene — Kevin Grubbs, William Keuper, Stephanie Greene and Michael Moore — have been placed on paid leave for seven days, as is procedure, Whalen said. Grubbs was the only responding officer that had been involved in an officer-involved shooting before.
Police then found Deborah Sanders dead inside the home. Whalen said she apparently had suffered from a stab wound.
"There was quite a bit of blood around the house, there (were) some edged weapons around the house," he said. "She was the victim of a violent death."
Sanders has "no significant history" of mental illness, but friends said "he has appeared stressed" lately, Whalen said.
Sanders was charged with child endangerment in November 2009 after he hit his son with an extension cord multiple times and shaved his son's eyebrows as a punishment for stealing his earrings, according to court documents.
According to a police communication report, one of the Sanders' neighbors, Mark R. Foster, called 911 at 5:02 a.m. after Gregory Sanders broke out one of Foster's windows.
Sanders told Foster he'd just "murdered his mother" by stabbing her "in head w/pen," the report states.
Foster, 57, said he was woken from a sound sleep when Sanders broke the stained glass window on his front door.
"I opened the door and spoke to him. 'Man, what is going on with you? What are you doing? You broke my glass out, man,'" Foster told the Enquirer. "He said 'I just murdered my mom, Mr. Foster.' I said, 'You did what?' I was in shock after that."
Foster dialed 911 and handed the phone to Sanders, Whalen said.
"I just murdered my mother, Deborah Sanders," he told the dispatcher. "You need to come."
Foster said the police came right away.
"By the time I went into my bedroom, I heard the shots. I looked out the front door. There he was in the street, face down," Foster said.
Foster said Sanders had been taking care of his mother, who he said is 60 and suffers from terminal brain cancer, for the past three years.
Street outreach workers with the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence were on Lincoln Avenue Monday morning to talk to residents and make sure they get the facts about the police shooting.
One of them, the Rev. Peterson Mingo, an Evanston pastor, said the area is not a high-crime neighborhood and includes at least one nursing home.
