Witnesses yelled ’he can’t hear’ before police shooting

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Authorities say Oklahoma City officers who opened fire on a man who was approaching them with a metal pipe in his hands apparently didn’t hear witnesses yelling that the man was deaf.

Police Capt. Bo Mathews said Wednesday that 35-year-old Magdiel Sanchez wasn’t obeying the officers’ commands before one shot him with a gun and the other with a Taser on Tuesday night. He says the officers didn’t hear witnesses yelling “he can’t hear you” before they fired.

Sanchez died at the scene. The officer who fired the gun has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

Mathews says the officers were investigating a reported hit-and-run. He says a witness told one of the officers the address the vehicle had gone to and that Sanchez was on the porch when the officer arrived. He says Sanchez was holding the metal pipe, which had a leather loop on one end.

A neighbor told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Sanchez carried a stick to ward off stray dogs when he walked at night.