Tulsa sees first officer-involved homicide of 2018

TULSA, Okla. (AP) – Two Tulsa police officers have been place on administrative leave pending an investigation of the shooting death of a man after a low-speed pursuit and standoff.

Police spokeswoman Jeanne MacKenzie says 40-year-old Joseph E. Knight was pronounced dead at a hospital after officers shot him on Monday. She says Knight was fleeing from a routine traffic stop but the pursuit ended at a residence when Knight got out of the vehicle with a shotgun pointed at his head.

Police say Knight was walking in the side yard of the residence with the shotgun and was refusing commands when officers shot him.

The Tulsa World reports that the shooting death was the city’s first officer-involved homicide of 2018. The city had six such deaths last year.