Attorney general investigates fatal police shooting of former elite fencer
ELWOOD, NY - A New York man killed after police said he came at them with swords in his hands was a former elite fencer who won a medal for the United States at the Pan American Games in 1995.
The state attorney general's office said Thursday it had opened a probe into the killing of Alan Weber, 54, who died Tuesday night after being shot at his home on Long Island by a Suffolk County police officer.
Suffolk County police said officers had gone to the home in response to a 911 call about a man acting violently inside, and heard Weber screaming and breaking things. Authorities said he refused to come outside.
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Officer fatally shoots man in fencing mask who charged with swords: police
Elwood neighbors said they had called police earlier in the day when Alan Weber was running around to houses in the neighborhood, trying to open doors and take mail.
Commissioner Rodney Harrison said Weber was wearing a fencing mask and had the swords when officers entered, and didn't comply with commands to drop the weapons. He said an officer used a stun gun to no effect.
According to police, one of the officers fired when Weber charged, and Harrison said he felt there was "no other choice."
Under state law, the attorney general's office looks into the deaths of people at the hands of law enforcement.
Weber, a Long Island native who went to the University of Pennsylvania, was a world-class fencer, said Jeff Salmon, who knew him from the time they were boys through various fencing competitions. Salmon said he last saw Weber in passing in July at a fencing competition.
"I don't know what to say, I'm completely devastated," said Salmon, co-founder and head coach at Mission Fencing Center, which Weber's children attended years ago for fencing training.
Weber almost made the U.S. men's team in fencing for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. In 1995, he was part of the team that went to the Pan Am Games and took the silver medal in the team foil category.
In recent years, he worked as a coach at different clubs, Salmon said.
Andy Shaw, historian for the U.S. Fencing Association, said he had seen Weber in action from the time he was young, and remembered him as confident and creative.
Associated Press wire services helped contribute to this report.