Knife-wielding man killed near Beale
‘He advanced on’ two police officers
A 19-year- old man armed with a knife was shot and killed early Tuesday by Memphis police officers Downtown in the Beale Street entertainment district .
Christian Freeman of Memphis was fatally wounded about 1:40 a.m. when he charged two male officers, according to police.
A woman had f lagged down police about a man armed with a knife near Fourth and Beale, police reported. They found Freeman behind FedExForum.
“I think what we have is one officer encountered him, called for backup, and then two responding officers encountered him,” Police Director Toney Armstrong said. “He advanced on them with a knife.
“Certainly there have to be some other underlying issues with this particular young man, and we certainly don’t know what they are at this time,” Armstrong said.
The two officers involved in the shooting have been routinely relieved of duty with pay during an investigation and won’t be identi- fied until they are briefed,” police said.
Two months before his fatal encounter with police early Tuesday, Freeman angrily confronted an officer patrolling the entertainment district and landed in jail, according to court records.
On April 9, Freeman was obstructing the road at Fourth and “Beale Alley” when an officer had to slow down to avoid hitting him, police reported in a court affidavit .
Freeman made an obscene
“de- gesture and yelled a profane remark. Freeman was arrested and booked into jail, but misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and obstructing a highway or passageway were dismissed the following day, according to court records.
That was the lone arrest listed for Freeman in Shelby County’s General Sessions Criminal Court. Officials said his juvenile record listed one scrape, in 2008, for disorderly conduct. — Kevin McKenzie:
(901) 529-2348