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Texas Officer Stabbed, Suspect Wielding Cleaver Fatally Shot

A man wielding a meat cleaver and frying pan stabbed an officer in the shoulder before being shot and killed by police officer early Tuesday, a Denton, TX, police spokesperson said.

January 21, 2020
1 min to read


A man wielding a meat cleaver and frying pan stabbed an officer in the shoulder before being shot and killed by police officer early Tuesday, a Denton, TX, police spokesperson said.

The wounded officer is expected to recover, police said.

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According to WFAA, officers responded shortly before 3 a.m. after multiple people called 911 saying a man was banging on numerous doors and yelling for people to open them up at the apartment complex Forum at Denton Station on Inman Street, police said.

Callers also reported that he was holding a frying pan and shattering all of the light fixtures in the complex's hallways, according to the department spokesperson.

Officers encountered the man after he came out of an apartment and down the stairs toward them, holding a cleaver and frying pan in his hands, according to the spokesperson.

The officers spent several minutes trying to speak with him and twice deployed a TASER, but the man ignored officers' commands to drop the weapons, Denton police Chief Frank Dixon said during a news conference Tuesday.

The suspect reportedly charged the officers, stabbing one officer in the shoulder. Another officer then shot the suspect and he fell to the ground. The suspect was pronounced dead at the hospital.

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