Neighbors, victims warned man killed by police was mentally ill
A man fatally shot by police while holding a shotgun in his front yard had a history of mental illness and post-traumatic stress disorder, a detective said during a review of the shooting Monday.
Metropolitan Police Officer Jahmaal Crosby was 103 feet away, behind a neighbor’s vehicle, across the street and slightly blocked by a wall, when he shot Rodney Finch, 62, in the neck on Nov. 4.
Metro Det. Blake Penny said that Finch was holding a Winchester 12-gauge shotgun and had six shells loaded in the weapon when he was killed.
Penny presented body camera and photos of the shooting during Monday’s fact-finding review, which was held because the Clark County district attorney’s office made a preliminary decision that Crosby should not be charged in the shooting.
Finch’s wife sat in the back of the Clark County Commission Chambers during the review while attorney Michael Troiano presented questions on her behalf. She declined to comment after the hearing.
Metro was first called to Finch’s house, near North Rampart and West Lake Mead boulevards, after two people said Finch pointed the shotgun at them. Officers took cover and set up a plan in the driveway a few houses away, and they shined a spotlight at Finch’s side yard.
Penny said one of the callers, identified in the report as “M.C.,” warned police he believed Finch was mentally ill.
Finch walked in and out of the house at least four times, sometimes armed, Penny said. Body camera presented Monday showed another officer yelled twice, “drop what’s in your hand,” five minutes before Crosby fired.
Finch was shot 30 minutes after police arrived.
Penny told Troiano that he was not provided information on whether Crosby had been involved in previous police shootings, previous discipline he had faced or what the results of Crosby’s post-shooting toxicology report showed.
After Finch died, officers learned that Finch had approached his neighbors a week earlier asking if they were with the water and power company. He started speaking German to another neighbor and claimed he was tracking her while he held a “box with an antenna that was beeping,” Penny said.
“In interviewing family members, they did say he suffered from PTSD from an incident in years past with his prior employer,” Penny said.
The district attorney’s office will make a final decision within two weeks on whether to charge Crosby in the shooting.
Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.
