Roy Lee Richards, 46, who lived in apartments on Green Mountain Drive, has been identified by police as the man fatally shot about 12:37 a.m. this morning by officers responding to a disturbance call about a man with a gun in the 500 block of East 8th Street.
A police incident report said two officers — whose names are being withheld — responded to multiple calls about a disturbance involving a weapon.
When they arrived, they said they saw Richards pointing a “long gun” at his uncle, Derrell Underwood, 53, who lives on East Eighth.
The report says: “Officer [Name obscured] engaged victim 1 and fired several shots. Suspect 1 [the officer] and Witness 1 [another officer] began CPR on Victim 1. MEMS and LRFD responded and began life saving attempts. Victim 1 succumbed to his injuries.”
No one else was hurt.
Underwood subsequently told police that his nephew had driven to his home and “began a disturbance which turned physical.” Underwood said Richards went to his vehicle and returned carrying a long gun. “He stated that suspect 2 began moving towards him pointing the rifle, when police arrived and engaged suspect 2.”
That’s the extent of the account. There’s no mention if officers had an opportunity to order Richards to disarm. Officers may use deadly force to protect themselves or others. The report doesn’t indicate that Richards fired the gun.
Police have said they took a weapon at the scene, but the report doesn’t further identify what type of weapon Richards was carrying.
The name Roy Lee Richards appears multiple times in local court records for driving and code offenses, but also including a misdemeanor domestic battering charge in 2015. He pleaded no contest as did a woman at the same address on Green Mountain who was also found guilty of a misdemeanor charge. Another charge, in 2011, names a Roy Lee Richards in a theft by receiving case for which he received three years’ probation.