Man killed at Howland Giant Eagle seeking to be killed by cops, prosecutor says

WARREN

Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins said Wednesday the final moments and the 20-hour buildup to the officer-involved shooting that killed Richard N. Latimer in the Howland Giant Eagle parking lot Feb. 7 suggest he intended “suicide by cop.”

Latimer, 34, of Mines Road, Howland, had killed Van Blevins, 44, of Weathersfield Township earlier that evening because of a dispute involving Latimer’s estranged wife. Just before officers opened fire, Latimer told officers to “[deleted] kill me” as he sat in a car with a handgun.

Latimer had a gun to his own head as Howland police officers approached him, then brought the gun down to his thigh as they yelled at him to drop his weapon.

When he moved the gun again in a “swinging” motion, Police Chief Nick Roberts and Assistant Chief Jeff Urso opened fire, according to a report released Wednesday by the prosecutors’ office. Latimer did not fire.

Two friends had walked up to Latimer’s car to talk with him just before the shooting, but they fled when he pulled the gun out of his pants and put the gun to his own head and said: “I’m not going to jail.”

“As they were fleeing from the vehicle Latimer was in, they heard numerous gunshots,” the report says. The couple also heard officers yelling “drop the gun” over and over just before the gunfire.

Read more about the case in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.