POLICE SHOOT, KILL HENRICO MAN

4th time this year county officers have shot a suspect

A 29-year-old convicted drug offender was shot and killed by police early
yesterday after authorities said he wielded a machete at several officers
who had stormed his Lakeside house in search of drugs.

Police said William Keith Green told the officers several times during the
confrontation that "he was not going to be arrested, he was not going back
to jail and that they would have to shoot him," said Sgt. Joe Morris, a
Henrico police spokesman.

Green was talking to his girlfriend on the phone when police entered his home.

"He told her that 'I'm not going to jail and they're going to have to kill
me,' " said one officer with knowledge of the incident. "He was clearly
combative and encouraging the officers to shoot him."

Police said Green was shot five times in his midsection by three narcotics
officers after he was repeatedly told to drop his weapon. Officers first
tried to subdue him with pepper spray, but "it didn't appear to have any
effect on him," Morris said.

The incident was the fourth this year in which a criminal suspect was shot
by a Henrico County police officer. Green is the second suspect to be
killed by police fire this year.

"They just run in cycles," Sgt. James Price, the department's internal
affairs officer, said of the shootings. "Who's to say what causes a number
of them to come in succession as opposed to having just one [in] one year,
and having none the next year. Each and every incident is unique into
itself with its own set of circumstances."

With the exception of 1997, Henrico has recorded one shooting per year
since 1995 in which an officer wounded or killed a suspect in a
confrontation. One man was killed by police in 1995, others were wounded in
1996 and 1998. Green, of 2128 Dumbarton Road, was pronounced dead at
Medical College of Virginia Hospitals shortly after the 1:45 a.m. incident.

According to Virginia Department of Corrections records, Green was
sentenced in 1990 to prison terms totaling nine years and one month for
convictions of simple assault, possession of marijuana and conspiracy to
distribute marijuana in Richmond and Hanover County. He received four years
and one month in

Richmond on the assault and marijuana possession charges, and five years in
Hanover for the conspiracy offense, spokesman Larry Traylor said.

In the Hanover case, Green was one of 19 people indicted in connection with
a marijuana distribution ring that authorities believed was responsible for
transporting 300 pounds of pot each week into the Richmond area. During a
two-month investigation, authorities confiscated about 100 pounds of
marijuana, about $150,000 and four vehicles. Green was discharged from
parole in November 1994, Traylor said. It was unclear how long he had been
incarcerated.

Yesterday's incident unfolded as Henrico narcotics officers tried to serve
a search warrant at Green's home. According to an affidavit to search the
home, a police informer told investigators that he had seen a quantity of
marijuana inside the house within the past 72 hours.

When police arrived at the home they identified themselves, announced their
intentions and "demanded entry into the house," Morris said.

When they got no response, the officers forced their way into a rear door
and tried to locate anyone inside before beginning the drug search, which
is standard procedure.

"It's a safety issue that they notify anyone that's actually inside the
dwelling of a location where a search is being conducted . . . and then
secure those people before the actual search takes place," Morris said.

It was during the sweep of the home that officers confronted Green, who had
a machete.

After spraying Green with the chemical agent, "he continued to come at the
police officers in a threatening manner with the machete over his head,
making hacking motions," Morris said. Several times he struck the side of a
doorway with the weapon, Morris added.

The three officers then fired a total of eight shots at Green with their
.45-caliber service pistols. Five shots struck him, one officer said.

Police later searched the home and recovered several ounces of marijuana,
some prescription pills, $65 in cash, drug paraphernalia and smoking
devices, material to package drugs, a set of scales that can be used to
weigh drugs, a vial of "white crystal substance," a cellular phone and a
pager. Documents, photos and a roll of film also were taken, according to
an inventory of items seized.

Police also found copies of arrest warrants from Newport News that
indicated Green had been arrested in recent months on charges of stalking
and domestic assault, an officer said.

Yesterday's incident marked the second time in recent months that pepper
spray was ineffective in subduing a suspect. In March, a Henrico officer
wounded a man armed with a knife inside the Wal-Mart Super Center in Short
Pump after a dose of pepper spray failed to have any effect on him.

"It's never been 100 percent," Morris said. "It's not going to be effective
in every situation. It's just a tool that we use . . . in hopes of subduing
offenders without using deadly force."

Police officials declined to release the names of the three officers until
the case can be reviewed by Henrico Commonwealth's Attorney Toby Vick.