catlover79
04-08-2010, 07:23 PM
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/04/police_shoot_man_with_meat_cle.html
By Michael Sangiacomo, The Plain Dealer
April 08, 2010, 7:48AM
BEDFORD, Ohio -- Bedford police shot and killed a man brandishing a meat cleaver at a Sikh temple on Tarbell Avenue early this morning.
Bedford Police Chief Gregory Duber identified the suspect as Ravinder Nijjar, 41, of Bedford.
Duber said the officer told cleaver-wielding Nijjar to stop two times before shooting him inside the Guru Gobind Singh Gurudwara of Greater Cleveland temple. Duber said Nijjar was only 11 feet away when the officer shot him.
Police said the incident started around 4:30 a.m. when two members of the temple stopped a police cruiser and said there was a man with a knife inside the temple. The men said there were two other members also inside.
"Two police officers entered the temple, with the two members," Duber said. "One officer went up a flight of stairs and the other officer went down. The officer who went downstairs into a hallway when Nijjar came down another flight of stairs toward him with the cleaver.
"The officer said 'drop the knife' twice, but the man continued walking toward him," Duber continued. "The officer shot him."
Nijjar was pronounced dead at 5:10 a.m. at the Bedford Medical Center.
Duber said police are trying to determine what happened and why Nijjar went to the temple.
"We learned that the four people actually live there, but we also learned that there are some very early morning services," Duber said. "Nijjar is not a practicing member of the temple, though he sometimes attends."
Duber said police are still gathering information on the early morning shooting.
"I'm not sure why he went there and what was going on," he said. "He just showed up with a knife. We'll talk to the other members and his family and try to figure it out."
Duber said the department would investigate the shooting by the police officer and then turn over the information to the city's law director, who will decide if the case should be turned over to a grand jury.
Duber said police arrested Nijjar in 2008 for being drunk and disorderly.
"He was on the street yelling at passing cars," he said. "We brought him back to the station, he didn't speak much English. We brought in a local businessman who helped us translate."
Nijjar was taken to the Marymount Mental Health Center for treatment.
Duber said Nijjar did not show up at his hearing on the disorderly conduct charge and was arrested by police on a warrant at his apartment, where he lived with his mother, later that same year. Police responded to the apartment complex for a disturbance and took Nijjar into custody after determining there was a warrant out for his arrest.
According to the temple's Web site, it is the largest in the area.
"(It) has been in the news since 2004 when a Gurudwara Reform Campaign was launched to reform the administration and revive Sikhism in USA," according to a statement on the site. "It has more than 400 members, and many members now wear turbans! A small group of deviant followers is bent on destroying Sikhism and has engaged in a long protracted court case. However, Sikhism has triumphed and will continue to triumph!"
By Michael Sangiacomo, The Plain Dealer
April 08, 2010, 7:48AM
BEDFORD, Ohio -- Bedford police shot and killed a man brandishing a meat cleaver at a Sikh temple on Tarbell Avenue early this morning.
Bedford Police Chief Gregory Duber identified the suspect as Ravinder Nijjar, 41, of Bedford.
Duber said the officer told cleaver-wielding Nijjar to stop two times before shooting him inside the Guru Gobind Singh Gurudwara of Greater Cleveland temple. Duber said Nijjar was only 11 feet away when the officer shot him.
Police said the incident started around 4:30 a.m. when two members of the temple stopped a police cruiser and said there was a man with a knife inside the temple. The men said there were two other members also inside.
"Two police officers entered the temple, with the two members," Duber said. "One officer went up a flight of stairs and the other officer went down. The officer who went downstairs into a hallway when Nijjar came down another flight of stairs toward him with the cleaver.
"The officer said 'drop the knife' twice, but the man continued walking toward him," Duber continued. "The officer shot him."
Nijjar was pronounced dead at 5:10 a.m. at the Bedford Medical Center.
Duber said police are trying to determine what happened and why Nijjar went to the temple.
"We learned that the four people actually live there, but we also learned that there are some very early morning services," Duber said. "Nijjar is not a practicing member of the temple, though he sometimes attends."
Duber said police are still gathering information on the early morning shooting.
"I'm not sure why he went there and what was going on," he said. "He just showed up with a knife. We'll talk to the other members and his family and try to figure it out."
Duber said the department would investigate the shooting by the police officer and then turn over the information to the city's law director, who will decide if the case should be turned over to a grand jury.
Duber said police arrested Nijjar in 2008 for being drunk and disorderly.
"He was on the street yelling at passing cars," he said. "We brought him back to the station, he didn't speak much English. We brought in a local businessman who helped us translate."
Nijjar was taken to the Marymount Mental Health Center for treatment.
Duber said Nijjar did not show up at his hearing on the disorderly conduct charge and was arrested by police on a warrant at his apartment, where he lived with his mother, later that same year. Police responded to the apartment complex for a disturbance and took Nijjar into custody after determining there was a warrant out for his arrest.
According to the temple's Web site, it is the largest in the area.
"(It) has been in the news since 2004 when a Gurudwara Reform Campaign was launched to reform the administration and revive Sikhism in USA," according to a statement on the site. "It has more than 400 members, and many members now wear turbans! A small group of deviant followers is bent on destroying Sikhism and has engaged in a long protracted court case. However, Sikhism has triumphed and will continue to triumph!"