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Kenner police: Armed man with mental illness shot, killed by police after hours-long standoff Monday

The New Orleans Advocate - 1/26/2017

After a lengthy standoff Monday, a Kenner SWAT team member shot and killed a mentally ill man who police said was advancing at an officer with two steak knives, prompting outrage from family members who said the fatal outcome could have been averted.

Kenner Police Chief Michael Glaser said he believes the shooting was justified, but the parents of 25-year-old Armond "Jairon" Brown said their son should not have lost his life.

"They executed him when he came out of that house," said Brown's father, also named Armond Brown.

Police said the tense standoff started before noon, when officers received a call from Brown's brother asking for help at the home in the 300 block of Webster Street in Kenner that the two shared.

Brown, who was schizophrenic and bipolar, had stopped taking his medications and was hearing voices and threatening him with knives, his brother said.

When officers arrived, they found Brown inside the home holding two knives, Glaser said. SWAT negotiators were sent to the scene to try to talk to Brown, but he refused to communicate with them.

"He wouldn't respond to our negotiator, his father, his mother and a friend of his," Glaser said. "We actually used all to try and make contact with him to start some kind of dialogue, but he would not respond at all."

In a back-and-forth confrontation that spanned hours, Glaser said officers tried to open the door several times to talk with Brown, who closed the door on officers each time.

Police fired two nonlethal "sponge rounds" at Brown while he was inside the house, hitting him in the thigh and the abdomen, Glaser said. They finally resorted to tossing tear gas inside the house to force him outside.

Brown came out carrying the knives, Glaser said.

That's when he told police "that he doesn't respond to anybody but God and nobody tells him what to do," Glaser said.

The chief said that after about 10 minutes in the front yard, Brown advanced toward an officer who fired another sponge round. A second officer then used a Taser to subdue Brown, Glaser said.

"That didn't stop him, and when he got to within three feet of one of our officers, one of our SWAT officers shot him," Glaser said.

Glaser said that officer - whom police have not named - shot four rounds just after 4 p.m. Brown was hit three times, in the upper left thigh, the groin and the abdomen, according to Glaser. He was taken to University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday.

The Kenner Police Department is handling the investigation into the shooting by its officer, who was hired in 2010 and has never used lethal force while with the department, Glaser said. The chief said he would make a decision on whether to name the officer, who is on administrative leave, after the "debriefing" process.

Detectives are also investigating whether Brown tried to stab his father inside the Webster Street home on Sunday night. Glaser said investigators recovered a broken knife from inside the residence after a search. Officers have been called to the home 22 times since January 2015, Glaser said.

"We tried everything we could to start a dialogue with him, but the family members on the scene said this is the worst episode he's been through," Glaser said.

Despite Brown's history of mental illness, his family members - several of whom were present during the confrontation Monday - were nevertheless shocked at the outcome of the standoff.

"He's battling with a mental situation, OK? ... They could see he was battling," said Jaironette Whitaker, Brown's mother.

Whitaker said she had believed police when they told frightened family members that Brown could be taken in peacefully.

"I believed them, y'all. I believed them," Whitaker said. "They're not going to make me feel like my child was some kind of demon because of his medical condition."

Dr. Gerry Cvitanovich, the Jefferson Parish coroner, said his office trains Kenner police on how to intervene in mental health crises.

"We have a lot of people who are not being adequately being treated for their mental illness. Who, either because of the disease or because they're not compliant with their medications, they get in these situations, and these situations are dangerous for everybody involved," Cvitanovich said.