Police shoot gun-wielding man to death

Killing of 43-year-old is first by Toledo officers since Sept.

Bean

LUCAS COUNTY BOOKING PHOTO NOT B

Darlene Woodmoore, left, and Tiffany Bean talk about the fatal shooting of Thomas Bean outside his home at 1029 Page St. Tiffany Bean is Thomas Bean’s daughter; Ms. Woodmoore is his cousin.

Bloodied and wounded, Thomas Bean staggered into his living room.

“They just shot me,” he said to a cousin who was inside Bean’s Page Street home.

“Who?” the cousin asked.

“The police.”

Bean, 43, was shot “multiple times” by Toledo police Officer Tom Reinhart, who fired his department-issued gun seven times.

Lucas County Deputy Coroner Maneesha Pandey, who performed an autopsy on Bean, declined to say how many times he was shot. He was shot in his torso, she said.

Officers Reinhart and Jason Picking were on patrol in the 1000 block of Page at 12:47 a.m. Thursday when they saw a woman lying on the ground and a man standing over her, pointing a 12-gauge shotgun at her face, police said.

The uniformed officers got out of their vehicle and several times told the man, later identified as Bean, to drop the gun, witnesses told police.

Still holding the weapon, Bean turned toward the officers and pointed the gun at them, police said. The entire encounter probably lasted fewer than 30 seconds, Toledo police Deputy Chief Don Kenney said. At least one of the rounds fired by Officer Reinhart struck Bean’s gun.

Bean

Bean turned to run into his home, leaving a trail of blood drops. Bean’s eldest daughter, Tiffany Bean, 25, said there were holes in white aluminum siding she said were from the shooting.

“I don’t understand why they had to shoot so many times,” Ms. Bean said. “I understand it’s what they’re trained to do, but why that many times? Why’d it take so many times?”

During an early-morning news conference, Deputy Chief Kenney said the officers followed proper protocol.

“I think they did an excellent job,” the deputy chief said. “They didn’t have much time to react and the victim herself personally thanked them for saving her life.”

The woman, Valerie Williams, 27, of Toledo was not injured in the shooting, police said. Ms. Williams, who could not be reached for comment, reportedly told police she was trying to get the shotgun away from Bean when officers arrived.

Officer Picking did not fire his weapon during the confrontation. Investigators later found that Bean’s shotgun was not loaded, though they found live rounds on a table inside the home.

Both officers were in uniform — one in an all-black gang unit outfit, and the other in a standard police uniform, a light-blue shirt and dark pants.

Neither officer was injured; per department policy, they will have at least three days off. Chief Kenney said the department will do a full investigation.

Both officers were hired Oct. 3, 2011, and went through an accelerated Toledo Police Academy because they were already working for other departments.

Dan Wagner, president of the Toledo Police Patrolman’s Association, said he was at the shooting scene Thursday morning and spoke with the officers again in the afternoon to review the investigative procedures.

He declined to discuss the conversations in detail, saying shooting a suspect is “something every officer has to work through. ... A lot of emotions come out when you shoot a suspect.”

Family and friends of Bean, including his daughter, were gathered outside the Page Street home Thursday morning. Ms. Bean said she was sleeping when she was woken by a phone call at 3:30 a.m.

“Tiffany, wake up. Your dad just got killed,” she recalled hearing.

Bean has a long history of violence and criminal mischief, including three stints in Ohio prisons.

From Oct. 4, 1991, through Aug. 28, 1992, Bean was incarcerated for drug trafficking and drug abuse; from Aug. 9, 1994, through Jan. 17, 1995, he was locked up for domestic violence; and from Dec. 14, 2000 through Sept. 6, 2001, he was in prison for possession of drugs and assault.

Ms. Bean said she last saw her father about a month ago when she brought her two young daughters — ages 4 and 5 — to see him.

Her 5-year-old, she said, has the same stutter as her father. Bean, a Toledo native, was not currently employed but had a record label, “Lost and Turned Out,” Ms. Bean said.

The last time Toledo police shot and killed a person was in September, also in North Toledo.

Killed then was Darrell Parnell, 19, of Toledo. He was shot once in the chest by Officer Benjamin Cousino after he tried several times to take the officer’s gun. Parnell had taken the officer’s baton and used it to hit the officer on the head several times, police have said. The shooting was ruled justifiable.

Contact Taylor Dungjen at tdungjen@theblade.com, or 419-724-6054, or on Twitter @taylordungjen.