From Bible to bullets, mentally ill man killed by police

Oak Ridge resident shot, killed by police
Man was alledgedly holding knife as he approached officers
By Bob Fowler
Knoxville News Sentinel
Posted July 20, 2010

OAK RIDGE — With four Bibles bookmarked and opened nearby, plus a black velvet painting of Jesus Christ on the hood of his car, Rodney Eugene Harris was “conversing with the Lord” Sunday afternoon, a neighbor said.

Harris, 48, was walking up and down Hillside Road in front of his home, “looking up in the sky and talking,” Scott McGuire said.

Minutes later, the man neighbors said everyone knew had mental problems was lying mortally wounded in a neighbor’s yard, shot several times by police.

Oak Ridge Police Chief David H. Beams said Harris was advancing toward four officers, large knife in hand, and refusing repeated commands to drop the weapon.

Harris had just stabbed a police dog and yanked an embedded Taser barb out of his body that had been fired by one officer in a bid to subdue him, Beams said.
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Oak Ridge resident shot, killed by police