SHORELINE, Wash. — There is fury over a Shoreline man who was shot and killed by police after he stabbed a man and his dog.
>> Stabbing of man and dog ‘completely unprovoked;’ Shoreline police shoot and kill suspect
The armed suspect, Aaron Olsvik, 23, lived less than a mile from the attack. Neighbors believe Olsvik was having a mental breakdown. They say the police chased him down from his apartment to a spot where he was shot dead.
There is a lingering sadness at the Garden Park apartment where Olsvik lived with his mother since he was a teenager.
There is shock, too, that Olsvik would stab anyone.
"I can't wrap my head around that, because, that's my friend, Aaron," said neighbor Allen Lloyd, his voice breaking. "I don't know why he did something like that."
Lloyd says Olsvik was soft-spoken and not violent, but he did suffer from mental illness.
"It shocks me," Lloyd said. "It shocks me that he was shot down by the police like he was, the way the whole thing happened. He didn't deserve that."
Just before six o'clock Thursday morning, Shoreline police were getting 911 calls that Olsvik was trying to stab his neighbors.
He spotted Kris Adams who was on his early morning walk with his dog, Ruby. Adams said Olsvik followed him, holding a knife until Adams arrived home.
At one point, he allegedly grabbed the dog's collar and stabbed her, too.
Neighbors said Olsvik never showed a violent nature before.
"He was just really like low key, nice kid," said Bradley Thomas, a neighbor. "which is really weird. When I like heard the dog because his dog, Tessa. He loved my dog, biscuit. They were really good friends."
Neighbors insist the officers should have found another way to restrain him.
"I don't know why they didn't use less-than-lethal force," Lloyd said. "Police departments are armed with tasers and other things to stop something like this from happening. Something happened inside and he, it was a cry for help."
Two detectives are on paid administrative leave.
Because the shooting was in Shoreline, the Seattle Police Force Investigation Team is handling the inquiry.
Cox Media Group
