Cops kill hammer-wielding man: San Francisco police shot and killed a man who was wielding a hammer after attacking his relative, officials said on Thursday.
Dale Wilkerson, 60, allegedly attacked his brother-in-law with hammer on Wednesday night in his home, reported the San Francisco Chronicle. He later called 911 and told the dispatcher he stabbed his relative.
A police spokesman, Officer Gordon Shyy, told the paper that a dispatcher heard another person “pleading for help” in the background, prompting police to respond in around a minute.
“Dispatch received a call from a male caller saying he had just stabbed his brother-in-law and another male voice could be heard in the background saying ‘Please help me, I’m bleeding,’” San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr elaborated to KTVU television. “Officers were on the scene within a minute. “
Wilkerson came out of his home with what appeared to be a hammer and “had it raised as he advanced toward officers,” while ignoring the commands from officers to put it down, Shyy said. An officer shot Wilkerson and he was taken to the San Francisco General Hospital, where he died, according to the Chronicle.
The other man, whose name was not released, was treated at the hospital for a laceration.
Suhr said that witnesses confirmed the accounts given by the officers that Wilkerson raised the hammer at them but the shooting is still under investigation, according to KTVU.
“With the tools that we have, the officers did what they had to do to defend themselves,” Suhr told the San Francisco Examiner.
