Posted on 12/30/2015 6:01:09 AM PST by csvset
SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - Suffolk police are investigating an officer-involved shooting that occurred Monday night and resulted in the death of a man.
Police said they responded to calls at around 5:15 p.m. regarding reports that the suspect was chasing three juveniles down Causey Avenue, while threatening to kill them.
Two veteran officers responded to the scene Monday night. Police say that the man was ordered to the ground. And according to police, one of the officers fired a shot and struck the man based on the "actions of the suspect and concern for safety."
The man was taken to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. The man's family says he was 28-year-old Corey Achstein.
"He was a great kid," said Achstein's Uncle Tom Walker. "28-years-old and his life cut too damn short."
Family says Achstein lives down the street and didn't own a gun. Police tell 10 On Your Side they recovered a BB gun that looked like a real one next to Achstein's body.
The veteran officers involved in the incident -- James Babor and Cheryl Abrigo -- have been placed on administrative leave. They were wearing body cameras, but the footage will not be released right now, a city spokesperson said.
Tuesday afternoon Suffolk Police are back trying to restore the normal feeling of peace along Causey Avenue. Officers were there with metal detectors looking for clues on how it happened.
"We usually have a real quiet neighborhood," said neighbor Candy Holland, who watched the chain of events from her porch. "I've lived here for 37 years and I've never seen anything like that."
Holland says she noticed a man walking down the street yelling at three teenagers.
"He started screaming a whole lot of profanity and then he started threatening that he was going to kill one of them," Holland said. Holland wasn't sure what to do, but then felt someone was going to get hurt.
"I didn't make a move to call police until I saw him pull out a gun and point it down the street," Holland added.
"He was just beyond anger," Holland said. "He was screaming and hollering at the police officer all of the sudden I head a gun shot and that was it."
The family of Achstein says it is looking for more answers.
"It's real hard on my sister," Waker added. "That's her only child and we can't get any answers from the police department."
As they struggle with loss, Holland struggles with her decision to pick up the phone.
"I tried to question myself after (wondering if I) should have done what I did, but if he would have killed one of those kids I would have felt really bad," Holland said.
Suffolk Police are currently conducting both criminal and internal affairs investigations into the shooting. 10 On Your Side has learned Officer James Babor was the one who fired the shot that killed Achstein.
City spokesman Tim Kelley also confirmed Babor was involved in a 2010 deadly shooting. He was cleared of any wrong doing in that incident.
"I didn't make a move to call police until I saw him pull out a gun and point it down the street," Holland added.
"He was just beyond anger," Holland said. "He was screaming and hollering at the police officer all of the sudden I head a gun shot and that was it."
Wonder if he drunk, stoned or just plain stupid? No further info as to what the youths did to incite this idiot.
It will be interesting to see what the body cam footage shows.
Don’t want to die today? Don’t pretend you have a gun while threatening the officers.
Wonder if he drunk, stoned or just plain stupid?
How about all of the above?
But like all others, he was a good boy, never meaning no harm, wasn’t going to actually hurt anyone. . . .
It will also be interesting to see what the tox screen shows. Same old [stuff], same recipe: PCP + BB-gun = one more brother killed by the cops.
Don’t bring a BB Gun to a fight with armed officers.
Some folks just need to be shoot. Sorry, mom.
Twenty-eight years is not a kid.
The perp was an adult, and knew what he was doing.
The toxicology report will answer if it was drinking or drugs , the stupid is a foregone conclusion.
When I was a kid, the only risk you took by having a BB gun was “shooting your eye out”.
“one more brother killed by the cops”
The family members who spoke on the video are white.
It sounds to me like the “youths” probably stole from him; assaulted him; dissed him; or affronted him in some way, and he was looking for payback or revenge.
But when the cops showed up and he continued to carry on - BANG!
I am sick of the memorialization of thugs. Carry a gun, swear and yell at the world, start pointing the gun, the results are obvious. This was a trouble young MAN, not a kid, at 28. He alone is responsible for what happened.
Ms Holland had better go into protective custody if the police intend to use her as a witness.
In a sane world she should be able to address the ‘people’ and let them know what SHE saw but all she did was endanger herself and the saddest part is that people that (probably) normally wouldn’t be ‘violent’ will be going after her.
Which, of course, is why people in certain neighborhoods are reluctant to bear witness- and you really can’t blame them and even if they aren’t bent on testifying, she may have to be ‘handled’ so she can’t change her mind.
Don’t need no brothas, sistas or muthas backing the police account.
That puts them in ‘no mans land’
If he put down his BB Gun he would be alive today.
There is something essential missing from the upbringing of our youth these days, and it's been going on long enough that the same behavior is now visible in adult society.
IMHO, the 'we're all winners' mentality that permeates society from cradle to grave has resulted in multiple generations of people who have never learned to face failure, disappointment, frustration or any of the many other emotions that well-balanced people learn to recognize and appropriately deal with.
As a result (and as we've all witnessed), we see things like the guy you honked in traffic at because he nearly hit you IMMEDIATELY go into road rage mode. It's gotten so bad that many of us don't dare point out rude, impolite behavior directed at us in public any more for fear that the offending party might go ballistic on us.
Ah.
Well, that changes nothing. Hey, stupid leftists that monitor FR.
Perp got ventilated and deserved it. Regardless of color.
Locally, a guy got killed trying to use a BB gun in a robbery. I think there is a belief on ‘the street’ that violent crime with a fake gun gets less of a sentence than violent crime with a real gun.
I once sat in a courtroom during part of a trial prosecuting a punk who pointed a barreled action of a cheap .22lr rifle at a police officer when the officer attempted to apprehend him. Only by luck did the cop not just blow this moron away. Fortunately for you and me that twerp went to prison for a considerable time.
The defense attorney you and I paid for argued that the bolt was removed from the rifle and therefor it was not a gun. This was 35-40 years ago so I don’t believe people have gotten more stupid, but that there is public outcry accusing cops of wrongly shooting people that point guns at them tells me that society has gotten more stupid, and I lay the blame at the feet of the MSM.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.