Police: Cop killed man who had knife

GBI says initial 911 caller referenced ‘a suicidal man.’

A man with a hunting knife was shot and killed by police early Friday as officers responded to a domestic dispute at a Cobb County home, authorities said.

The police shooting happened shortly after midnight when officers were called to a home in the 4500 block of North Landing Drive in east Cobb, police department spokesman Sgt. Wayne Delk said.

“An adult male at the home was armed with a large hunting-type knife,” Delk said in an emailed statement. “At some point the armed male presented a threat to the officers and was shot.”

Matthew Joseph Wilbanks, 41, was pronounced dead at the scene, GBI spokeswoman Natalie Ammons said Friday, adding that the initial 911 caller referenced “a suicidal man.”

“During the incident, Wilbanks advanced towards officers while holding the knife,” Ammons said. “An officer discharged his firearm, striking Wilbanks.”

No one inside the home was injured in the shooting, and no officers were harmed, officials said Friday afternoon.

The case was turned over to the GBI, which is typical in most police shootings. Friday morning’s incident marks the fourth time this year Cobb police have fatally shot someone, and the third time within the past month, records show.

It’s the 70th police shooting the GBI has been asked to investigate since the start of the year and the 39th in which someone was killed, according to GBI data.

The Atlanta Journal-constitution also tracks officer-involved shootings that don’t involve the GBI, and those numbers sometimes differ from the GBI’S tally.

On Monday, a Cobb County SWAT team member shot and killed a man police said was spotted on the balcony of a Smyrna-area apartment with a bound hostage. The shooting brought an end to the four-hour standoff, which started shortly before 10 a.m. at the Concord Crossing Apartments.