The girlfriend of the man fatally shot by Louisville Metro Police earlier this week is calling his death a murder.
Darnell Wicker was shot and killed by two Louisville Metro police officers around 1:30 Monday morning at an apartment complex in southwest Louisville. The officers were responding to a 911 call made at the behest of Anita Jones, Wicker’s girlfriend of 22 years.
"When I was in the house he didn’t pull no weapons out, when I came out he came out with them, but not like coming at me with them," Jones said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
She said Wicker wasn’t threatening her and that she wanted him to leave her home, where he also stayed most nights. Jones said the responding officers were too quick to use deadly force.
"He had no chance to drop a weapon, he had no time to even drop the weapon, when they said drop the weapon," Jones said. "Pow pow pow pow, exactly, just like that."
Wicker was allegedly holding a saw-like object in his hands as officers approached, according to an account from Police Chief Steve Conrad. Jones said she believes it’s likely Wicker grabbed the saw as he was packing up some tools before leaving the apartment.
The two officers who shot Wicker are on administrative duty and under investigation by the department’s Public Integrity Unit.
