Details Emerge In Fatal Brooklyn Center Officer-Involved Shooting
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (WCCO) -- The BCA is investigating an officer-involved shooting that left a 21-year-old man dead.
Brooklyn Center police were called to the 5900 block of Halifax Avenue around 4:15 p.m. Saturday. They were responding to a call that a man was fighting with his grandparents and threatening them with a hammer.
Neighbors say the man, later fatally shot, was on the autism spectrum.
"You would have heard gunshots fired and then you heard somebody scream. It was crazy," said neighbor Leah Harris.
Harris and her dad Lance live across the street from where the officer-involved shooting occurred. While they didn't know the family very well, they're shocked over what happened.
"It's really quiet and that's one of the reasons we moved into the neighborhood. We never hear anything happen. I've never heard any altercations over there before," said Lance.
Brooklyn Center police say when officers arrived they encountered a man. After a struggle he was shot by police and died on scene. One of the officers was injured in the arm. Next-door neighbor Zoey Seely identified the man as 21-year-old Kobe Heisler.
"From what I heard he was threatening his grandparents at the time with a small weapon like a hammer," said Seely.
Seely said Heisler lived in the house with his grandparents and had autism.
"I do believe that led to the situation of he not being able to cooperate or officers not understanding how to cooperate with him," said Seely.
Seely said she spent a lot of time with Heisler over the years, building snow forts and playing video games.
"Super, really kind-hearted guy," said Seely. "I'm still just wondering how the situation could have gotten to that point."
All the officers at the scene were wearing body cameras, and those involved have been placed on standard administrative leave.
