United States police officers have mistaken a cell phone for a gun in the hands of a man whom they shot and killed in Las Vegas, authorities say, APA reports quoting Press TV.
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The man, who was not identified in the police statement, was wanted for multiple violent felonies out of Arizona.
A spokesman for the suspect’s attorney Brad Reinhart said Childress had been convicted in December of burglary, armed robbery, kidnapping, aggravated assault and theft in Maricopa County, Arizona, but never been accused of attempted murder.
The names of the officers involved will also be released according to department policy.
The two officers then opened fire, fatally striking Childress.
The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Federal agents were tracking the suspect when he was shot in a residential neighborhood of Las Vegas at about 2 pm on Thursday, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement.
‘That did not strike me as the type of guy he was.
Childress and three other men, including his half brother, were charged with forcibly entering a Phoenix home in March 2013 and stealing marijuana and weapons.
The mother and siblings of the Childress spoke with 8 News NOW and are mourning the young man’s death.
Police later revealed that he was in fact holding a mobile phone. ‘We want justice for this – it all doesn’t make sense.
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Police said Friday that the two unidentified officers opened fire because they thought he had a gun in his right hand and he didn’t obey commands to drop it and stop moving.
