PRINCETON, W.Va. (AP) — An officer in southern West Virginia investigating a trespassing complaint fatally shot a man who charged at him with a baseball bat, authorities said.
The shooting occurred Saturday in Mercer County when officers with the Princeton Police Department responded to a call about a man riding an all-terrain vehicle on property that did not belong to him, West Virginia State Police First Sgt. C.K. McKenzie told the Bluefield Daily Telegraph.
When officers made contact with the 43-year-old man, he became aggressive, Princeton Police Chief T.A. Grey said Monday in a statement. Police tried to take him into custody “at which time he charged officers swinging an aluminum baseball bat.”
An officer who was almost struck with the bat fired his gun and hit the suspect, who was later pronounced dead at a hospital, Grey said.
Further details were not immediately released.