Police fatally shoot Dallas man outside apartment, claim he was armed with knife
Two police officers in a Dallas suburb fatally shot a 27-year-old Black man Tuesday morning.
Cops in Mesquite, just east of Dallas, claimed Ashton Pinke was carrying a knife and a club and charged at the two officers outside an apartment building.
Pinke’s family said he battled mental health issues, and that police had encountered him multiple times before Tuesday, local ABC affiliate WFAA reported. Pinke had four children, his family said.
The two officers went to the Audubon Park apartment complex around 7:45 a.m. Tuesday after receiving a 911 call in which a woman could be heard screaming before hanging up, the Mesquite Police Department said in a Facebook post.
The cops arrived at the apartment, and the woman told them Pinke was armed with a knife, police said. The officers then went outside and found Pinke next to the building.
Police claimed Pinke then charged them with a knife and a club, and the two cops fired several bullets, killing him.
Family attorney Justin Moore told WFAA, “By all accounts, Ashton was not armed with a gun or deadly weapon to justify the use of lethal force by officers on the scene.”
A witness said Pinke was carrying a walking stick, and his family confirmed that he often used one, according to WFAA.
Police said the shooting was captured on body-camera video and that video would be released later this week. The two officers have not been identified.
Cops also said the woman who called 911, described as an assault victim, was taken to a local hospital.
