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Report: Raleigh police officer shot man last week after stun gun didn't work

A Raleigh police officer who shot a man coming at her with scissors last week at a mental health treatment facility did so after another officer tried to subdue him with a stun gun, according to a memorandum sent Tuesday to Raleigh's city manager.

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Marcel Leroy Jordan
RALEIGH, N.C. — A police officer who shot a man coming at her with a pair of scissors last week at a mental health treatment facility did so after another officer tried to subdue him with a stun gun, according to a memorandum to Raleigh's city manager.

Marcel Leroy Jordan, 33, was shot once in the torso on Dec. 17 while officers S.C. Nziuki and D.M. Pietras were responding to a 911 call about a patient assaulting an employee at Family Preservation Services of North Carolina on Barrett Drive.

In a report released Tuesday, Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown tells City Manager Ruffin Hall that the initial investigation found that the officers encountered Jordan around 8:30 a.m. screaming in a hallway and holding a pair of metal scissors.

When he ignored repeated commands from the officers to drop the scissors, Deck-Brown writes, Officer D.W. Sigrist used the stun gun.

"The Taser did not appear to have any effect on Mr. Jordan, who continued to advance on the officers with the scissors still in his right hand," the memo states. "Officer Nziuki fired one shot at Mr. Jordan, striking him in the torso."

Jordan was still being treated for a gunshot wound Tuesday at a local hospital. His condition wasn't immediately clear.

According to the report, a Family Preservation Services employee told Nziuki that Jordan assaulted him after becoming upset during an appointment. The report cited the employee as telling Nziuki that Jordan said he was going to "kill a cop today" and that he didn't mind if he died.

At least one other employee was in the office, prompting Nziuki to call for back-up. Pietras responded and the two then entered the office, the report states.

Jordan suffers from schizophrenia, his parents said Saturday, adding that they have no idea what caused their son – whom, at 6 feet tall and 300 pounds, they refer to as a "big teddy bear" – to become aggressive.

Gabrielle Brown said her son usually retreats and isolates himself when he is upset.

Deck-Brown's report, referred to as a five-day report, is preliminary.

The Raleigh Police Department's Internal Affairs Unit and the State Bureau of Investigation are still investigating, which is standard protocol in officer-involved shootings.

Nziuki – who has been with Raleigh police since May 2012 – meanwhile, remains on administrative duty pending the results of the investigations.

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