Armed suspect seriously hurt in officer-involved shooting

An aggravated assault suspect was seriously injured in a police-involved shooting Saturday morning.

James Wilkins, 28, was taken to a hospital with serious injuries after the shooting, which occurred about 10:50 a.m. Saturday at Town House Inn, 505 N. Kingshighway.

Wilkins, wanted on suspicion of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in Tunica, Mississippi, was in Room 206 at the hotel when U.S. marshals, accompanied by a Cape Girardeau police officer, tried to contact him, the Cape Girardeau Police Department reported Saturday.

A woman answered the door of the hotel room and indicated she was not alone, the department said in a news release. Officers were in the doorway when Wilkins came out of the bathroom holding a gun, saw them and ducked back into the bathroom, where he ignored verbal commands to give up, the release stated.

Wilkins eventually came out of the bathroom, pointing the gun at an officer and the marshals, at which point police fired at Wilkins, who was struck once in the chest, the release stated.

The department released a video that showed officers repeatedly telling Wilkins to drop his gun before firing several times. After the shooting, the officers could be heard in the video continuing to tell Wilkins to drop the weapon.

Witness Anjoel Vandeweghe said she was eating breakfast at the Huddle House restaurant next door when she saw police vehicles go to the hotel. She said police were at the scene for about an hour before shots were fired.

"The police definitely did the right thing," she said. "They gave the guy plenty of time, but he wasn't doing it. ... I bet they repeated themselves 30 or 40 times."

Vandeweghe said she could see blood on Wilkins' chest when he was taken from the motel room to an ambulance.

Wilkins, whose hometown was not available Saturday, was being treated at a hospital for serious injuries, the Cape Girardeau Police Department news release stated.

Cape Girardeau police Sgt. Jason Selzer said no officers or marshals were injured.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol is investigating.

Officer-involved shootings became a hot-button issue after the Aug. 9 shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who is black, by Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson, who is white.

Brown's shooting triggered nationwide protests and put a spotlight on how police interact with minorities.

Wilkins, the man shot Saturday in Cape Girardeau, is black. The race of the officer who shot him was not immediately available.

In a telephone interview Saturday evening, Cpl. Darin Hickey of the Cape Girardeau Police Department said the officer's identity will be released after the Missouri State Highway Patrol completes its investigation of the shooting.

Last month, in response to a request by the Southeast Missourian, Hickey provided data on the department's use of force.

Cape Girardeau police responded to more than 50,000 calls for service in 2014, arresting 3,082 adults and 258 juveniles -- including 88 suspects who were charged with resisting arrest -- and experienced more than 20 assaults by suspects, Hickey said.

During that time, the department had 64 use-of-force reports, with some of those reports involving multiple types of force as officers worked to bring situations under control, he said.

For example, an officer might have used a Taser on a suspect resisting arrest, then switched to pepper spray if the Taser didn't produce results, Hickey said.

"This doesn't say 'successful deployments,'" he said during a Feb. 5 interview at his office.

Police used their Tasers 43 times in 2014, including 11 instances in which the devices touched a suspect, called drive stuns; 31 instances in which cartridges were discharged, allowing officers to control a suspect from several feet away; and one arc display, in which an officer simply showed a suspect the electrical arc produced by a Taser, Hickey said.

Officers also used 32 skill techniques -- physical control tactics such as closed-fist strikes, arm bars, wristlocks or other techniques -- and pointed guns at suspects 25 times.

Officers point their weapons only if a situation calls for deadly force -- for instance, a suspect refuses to drop a weapon or an officer is in danger, Hickey said.

"We're not doing an arc display with our Glock," he said.

Police also pepper sprayed suspects four times, used a baton once and sent a K-9 police dog to bite someone once in 2014, Hickey said.

He said police prefer not to use physical force on suspects if they can avoid it.

"Our first line of use of force is officer presence," Hickey said in February. "When an officer arrives, that's when we need compliance. ... We need to get there, control the scene and then move on."

Until Saturday, the department had not had an officer-involved shooting since Sept. 27, 2008, when officer Joey Hann shot 20-year-old Jordan T. Modicue of Tamms, Illinois, wounding him in the abdomen, leg and groin.

Hann shot Modicue after Modicue refused to drop the weapon he was pointing at another man's head during a fight outside a bar at 701 N. Main St., the Southeast Missourian reported at the time.

The weapon turned out to be a Daisy air pistol.

Then-Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle declined to charge Hann, finding his actions "reasonable and lawful."

The bar lost its liquor license in the wake of the shooting.

smaue@semissourian.com

388-3644

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

An edited version of the video of the shooting:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QVv70i8hIxQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>

The full video, courtesy of the Cape Girardeau Police Department:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iezHjqFpJKo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>