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Posted on 03/09/2006 3:21:08 PM PST by Ellesu
A Knoxville Police Department officer shot and killed an armed suspect at Walter P. Taylor homes early Thursday morning, just as the suspect was about to fire through a door at another officer, according to KPD. The suspect, Larry Ardis, 56, a Louisiana man with a lengthy criminal record, was armed with a fully loaded .44-caliber magnum revolver, and had a box of ammunition in his pocket, KPD spokesman Darrell DeBusk said.
A woman who encountered Ardis prior to the shooting has told investigators that he was "ready to kill and wanted to kill," and was wearing plastic over his clothing, DeBusk said.
"He told her that was his ‘killing suit,’" DeBusk said.
The officer who fired the fatal shot, Joshua Dykes, 23, has been placed on administrative leave with pay, pending completion of the investigation. That is standard KPD procedure whenever an officer shoots someone.
Dykes was hired last year and graduated from the KPD Academy in February of this year. He is still in KPD’s field training program, in which recent KPD Academy graduates ride with veteran officers before they are allowed to patrol alone. Dykes was riding with Officer Rob Taylor.
Ardis came to Knoxville as a Hurricane Katrina evacuee, DeBusk said. Because the information he gave the Red Cross on his emergency contact card was not valid, it took longer than usual to locate a next of kin.
Ardis was arrested three days ago for possession of a weapon after a traffic stop, DeBusk said.
The Thursday incident began around 5 a.m. when 911 received a call that an armed man was in an apartment at Walter P. Taylor demanding drugs or money.
That call was made by LaShonda Rucker, 30. DeBusk said Ardis had come to her apartment, armed with the gun and wearing gloves and plastic material over his clothes, and demanding drugs or money.
It was then that he called the plastic material his "killing suit" and said he was prepared to kill, DeBusk said.
As Rucker’s boyfriend tried to talk with Ardis and get him calmed down, Rucker slipped out to another apartment and called 911, DeBusk said.
When officers arrived, Rucker identified Ardis by name because he had briefly stayed in an apartment next to hers, as well as at some other apartments in Walter P. Taylor, DeBusk said.
Ardis had applied for an apartment of his own at the complex, and it does not appear he has a permanent address, DeBusk said.
Officers searched for Ardis, and through a window could see him sitting inside the apartment of Gladys Julian. DeBusk said Julian was also somehow acquainted with Ardis through the Hurricane Katrina episode, and that he had stayed at her apartment previously. Julian had apparently let him in the apartment.
The officers could see Ardis was holding the Smith and Wesson .44 magnum in his hand and that he was still wearing gloves. They could not see Julian, who was upstairs.
Taylor went to the front door, Officer Woody Bingham and Lt. Donna Clift went to the rear, and Dykes continued to watch Ardis through the closed window, DeBusk said.
Ardis ignored repeated knocks at the door and demands to come out. When he raised the gun and pointed it toward the door, Dykes fired one shot from his .40-caliber Glock, striking Ardis in the head, DeBusk said.
Officers entered the apartment, separated Ardis from the gun, handcuffed him and began rendering aid while an ambulance was en route, DeBusk said. He said the handcuffing was "standard procedure for the officers’ own safety," in such situations.
Ardis was pronounced dead at the scene.
Dykes was taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center but was not admitted. Julian was taken to Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, also for observation. No one was injured in the incident.
Ardis has a criminal record from Louisiana and California that includes weapons charges, mail theft, forgery, assault with a deadly weapon and armed robbery, DeBusk said.
The plastic material Ardis was said to be wearing during his encounter with Rucker has not been located, DeBusk said.
It is not known where Ardis obtained the .44 magnum, a weapon not usually favored by criminals. Investigators are attempting to trace it, DeBusk said.
In the gun charge filed against Ardis earlier this week, he was riding in a car that was stopped for a traffic violation. The driver had no driver’s license, and there was another passenger. A search of the car revealed a loaded .380 semi-automatic handgun.
"They all denied the gun was theirs, so all three were charged with (illegal possession of) the same weapon," DeBusk said.
"They all denied the gun was theirs, so all three were charged with (illegal possession of) the same weapon," DeBusk said.
LOL!
Adios scumbag!
.40 Glock to the head will immediately end the standoff/situation just about every time.
Keeps you clean from all blood stains but your own.
How many bullets can you buy with a $2000 FEMA charge card?
Not this time. LOL
The officer should be given an award. And what difference could the fact that this guy is a *Katrina refugee* possibly have to this whole story? It's totally irrelevant and I am sooooo sick of hearing about it. It changes nothing in this whole scenario. I wish they'd drop making an issue over it.
Is that a contest, like count the jelly beans in the jar? : D
Since he was a Katrina refugee we're supposed to feel sorry for the guy presumably. I think it's illegal these days to put out a story about a dirtbag getting waxed w/o a sympathetic component in favor of the dirtbag.
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Oh yeah. Liberal thinking. Victim mentality. I guess that's why it didn't occur to me.
This is the third incident we've had in east Tennessee since Katrina, involving evacuees. One was a murder (Katrina evacuee arrested and convicted), and another was a bank robbery.
Walter P. Taylor Homes in Knoxville is a den of drug runners, there is constantly a killing or something going on there.
There, that's better.
now he's wearing his "dead suit".
LOL
It's a shame that all the thugs just didn't drown and get washed out to sea. They would have at least given something back to the world.
I wonder why the liberal media is playing up these stories.
There are never any "Katrina evacuee finds job in new town" or "Former New Orleans resident saves Mayor's dog" or "Hurrican survivor foils bank robbery" stories.
With all that the MSM as invested in making NOLA appear as a perfect place until Bush blew up the levees, I would think that the actual stories showing that the N'orliners are scum would have been spiked.
Republican governor Bob Riley demanded a background check on any 'evacuees' before they could settle in Alabama. He was called racist but did it anyway. The bad-guys apparently didn't even bother trying to come here.
It is relevant because it is "of interest" in tnat the Katrina refugee flood has brought significantly elevated crime rates to the cities where it has washed up. Locals are interested in knowing whether a crime is due to a local resident or to one of these "outsiders."
Amen! In fact, a sevenfold Amen!! I, too, am sick of hearing "Katrina refugee" over and over and over again. It's a Dumbocrap term intended to denigrate Bush.
Why, on CNN today, there were reports of severe storms over the South. In fact, ladies and gentlemen, Baseball Sized Hail was reported to have fallen in Oklahoma, doing severe damage. Undoubtedly Rove intended to steer this Baseball Size Hail to Norman, but he missed and it fell in southern Oklahoma
Was not this Bush's fault? Where's FEMA? Bush FAILED to anticipate Baseball Sized Hail in Oklahoma!!
Therefore,Impeach Bush!! He allowed Baseball Sized Hail in Oklahoma! Remember, Bush was associated with the Texas Rangers. All Texans hate all Okies! And the Texas Rangers play Baseball.
Get the picture? Extremely sinister.
/sarcasm
Well, Makes about as much sense as most of the Dim's logic anent Katrina, or any of their other touchstone phrases.
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