The shooting was at the 1700 block of South Evans Ave at Sweetser Avenue Wednesday October 25 at 6:08 p.m.
Police were responded to a complaint of a woman walking down the street with a gun.
An EPD officer arrived and asked the woman to stop walking, and put the gun down. She temporarily hid the gun and continued to ignore pleas for her to comply.
She was shot twice by the officer as she seemed to be pulling the gun back out.
“The gun was recovered from the scene … it was determined to be a Smith and Wesson airsoft gun,” said Public Information officer Sergeant Anna Gray at a Thursday news conference. “It was photographed and collected from the scene. The gun looks like a revolver and did not have any type of orange or bright color tip.”
To illustrate her point, Gray showed a similar revolver replica which from even a short distance looks convincingly like a real gun.
“Does anyone in here think that this looks like a real gun,” she asked the assembled media. “To me, as a police officer, this looks like a real gun.”
And it looked like a real gun to the responding officer — who thought he was facing deadly force.
Gray said the officer, from his perspective, could not have safely used a taser instead.
“In this particular incident, he was out of his car,” Gray said, adding that he had no protective cover. “He's in the middle of the street. You know, at that point where somebody produces a gun … there's no way to retreat behind cover. We can’t just walk away from that situation. So absolutely, that was a deadly force situation.”
An EPD K9 was used to separate her from the gun, because she had fallen on it when shot. She was pronounced dead at the scene after first aid efforts failed.
The name of the officer is not being released, but he was not injured and is on the standard 72-hour leave.
The Vanderburgh County Coroner’s office has released her name as 34-year old Christina McKinney. The incident is under investigation.
Less than 20 minutes prior to this, police were called to a domestic disturbance in which the deceased was also involved. See full EPD news release below.
There was another fatal officer involved shooting involving an airsoft gun in March.
Gary Youngblood Jr. was shot by police March 21 after a lengthy standoff in his Evansville home. Non-lethal ordinances were used to force him to exit. He eventually appeared on a roof level balcony with a gun, and was then shot by police.
Police learned that his weapon was actually an airsoft gun which also looked convincingly like a real gun.
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Full News release via EPD
On October 25th, around 5:42 p.m., Evansville Police Officers were dispatched to the 600 block of Cross St. in reference to a Disorderly Conduct. The caller stated that the subjects were fighting and threw a fish tank out the door.
Around 5:55 p.m., the responding EPD Officer arrived on scene and made contact with a female who was walking out of an apartment. She told the officer that everything was fine.
Another female who was inside of the apartment, closed the door when the officer tried to speak with her. The officer did not witness any injuries on either female and since the parties had separated on their own, the officer left the scene.
At 6:02 p.m., Dispatch received another 911 call about a person with a gun. The caller saw the same female, who had been involved in the earlier Disorderly
Conduct run, walking outside towards the park carrying a gun.
The female was described as a white female wearing a multi-color hoodie with black leggings.
At 6:08 p.m., a responding EPD officer encountered the female walking in the 1700 block of S. Evans Ave. The officer stops his squad car, opens his car door, and tells the female to stop.
The female turns around and looks at the officer but continues to walk away. The officer tells her at least 3 more times to come back to him.
The female eventually complies and walks toward the officer. She was carrying a basketball under her right arm. The female starts reaching into her jacket pocket with her left hand. The officer yells at the female to stop reaching two separate times but she continues to dig into her pocket.
The officer pulls out his duty weapon and points it at the female. The female pulls out a gun from her pocket and holds it down to her side.
The officer yells at the female to drop the gun but instead, it appears that she tries to hide the gun behind her back. The female then brings her arm up in a motion as if lifting the gun.
At that time, the officer discharged his duty weapon. The female was shot, fell to the ground, and landed on the gun.
For officer safety purposes, an EPD K9 was used to separate the female away from the gun so officers could safely approach her to render first aid. Officers,
including an EPD Tactical Medic, rendered first aid to the female until AMR and Evansville Fire Medics arrived on scene.
They also attempted life-saving measures, but the female was pronounced dead at the scene. No other individuals were injured during this incident.
Per protocol, the officer was taken to a local hospital for a blood draw. Our EPD Peer Support Team was called in to be with our officer during the process.
The gun was recovered from the scene and was determined to be a Smith & Wesson airsoft gun. It was photographed and collected from the scene.
The gun looked like a revolver and did not have any type of orange or bright color tip.