By Adam Taylor
Staff reporter - Wilmington, Delaware
09/14/2003
A man was shot and killed Saturday by Wilmington police after
he stole a police car and was fired on by officers at three locations,
authorities said.
Police did not identify the victim or the officers who fired the shots.
None of the officers was hurt, Cpl. Stephen L. Martelli said.
The incident began shortly after 7 p.m. in the 1400 block of N.
Washington St., Martelli said. He did not know why police were called
to the location, but said the man might have displayed a weapon to
officers.
"He got into an altercation with the responding officers, and one or two
officers fired upon him," Martelli said.
The man then stole the marked black-and-white police cruiser and led
police on a chase that ended 16 blocks away at Fifth and Harrison
streets, where three officers opened fire on the man, Martelli said.
"He was winding all through the city before he got to that location," he
said.
Two police cars blocked West Fifth Street at Harrison Street as the
man was chased by other officers westbound on Fifth Street toward the
intersection, Martelli said.
The man stopped the stolen police car in the street. Two officers
walked toward him with their guns drawn, Martelli said.
"That's when the man drove the car toward the officers," Martelli said.
"They couldn't get out of the way, so they opened fire."
The man drove the stolen police car to the right of the two vehicles
that had blocked the intersection, Martelli said. The stolen car struck a
Jeep Cherokee that was parked at the intersection. The stolen car
then headed north on Harrison Street toward Sixth Street, where more
police cars were blocking that intersection.
The man drove the car at an officer on Harrison Street between Fifth
and Sixth streets, and that officer shot at the man, Martelli said.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene, New Castle County
paramedics spokeswoman Kelli Starr-Leach said.
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