Little Rock police are investigating on an officer involved shooting that left one man dead Tuesday afternoon. Police tell FOX16 it started after Landris Hawkins, 28, used a kitchen knife with a six inch blade to cut himself then his grandmother at their house on Carlisle Drive just off of Geyer Springs in southwest Little Rock. Hawkins' grandmother called 911.
Police tell us when officers arrived, Hawkins wouldn't let his grandmother out of the house and made a threatening move. That's when police say two officers fired shots from the front door and killed him.
"He has a mental problem, but I thought he was getting a little better. I was just over there talking to him and just went back to work," says the victim's mother, Nikita Hawkins.
When asked if there have ever been problems like this before with Hawkins, his mother replied, "He don't bother nobody. He is in the house by himself with my mama and doing nothing."
Both officers are on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, which is standard. Their names aren't being released.
"I don't like it. They didn't have to [kill him]," says Hawkins. "They could've shot him anywhere else; they could've did it in the leg. They didn't have to do that, they didn't have to kill him."
Hawkins great-grandmother and a one year-old were at the house when the shooting happened, but they weren't hurt. The grandmother was treated for minor injuries at the scene.
Police tell us Hawkins was arrested in 2001 for drug possession.
Police say Hawkins lived in the home with his grandmother and has a history of mental illness. “We don't know what set this individual off. Apparently he has a long history of mental problems and they've been trying to get him help for some time,” Lt. Terry Hastings with the Little Rock Police Department said.
