Officers Kill Man Outside His Ventura Home

A Ventura construction worker whom police say taunted them to “go ahead and shoot” was fatally wounded outside his home early Wednesday after waving a loaded revolver at two officers, authorities said.

“The officers felt their lives were being threatened,” said Ventura Police Lt. Carl Handy, who refused to identify the officers, who have been placed on administrative leave. “Unfortunately, they felt they had to use deadly force.”

But family members of 43-year-old Nick Nelson say he may have been depressed but can’t understand why police felt it necessary to kill him.

“Like his mother said, ‘They can tranquilize elephants, but they couldn’t do that to Nick?’ ” said Nelson’s brother-in-law, Joe Hernandez. “Even if he was flashing his gun, why couldn’t they just tranquilize him?”

Neighbors called police to the Casa Antigua condominium complex in the 2600 block of Harbor Boulevard after hearing gunfire coming from Nelson’s apartment about 12:23 a.m. Wednesday, authorities said.

When officers arrived outside Nelson’s unit, they saw him inside clutching his .357 revolver, said Handy, adding that officers decided then to evacuate homes surrounding Nelson’s unit before knocking on his door.

But as police directed neighbors out of their homes, a gunshot was heard as Nelson fired into his television set, authorities said. They said Nelson stepped outside, revolver in hand, to confront authorities.

Neighbors said they could hear Nelson shouting, “Go ahead and shoot, go ahead and shoot me!”

In response, police repeatedly ordered the distraught man to drop his weapon, neighbors and police said. But Nelson refused, shouting profanities at police while telling them, “I’m not going to go to jail,” witnesses said.

“Then he began advancing,” Handy said. “And he knew the officers were there.”

Neighbors say they heard as many as four shots. Three bullet holes were seen in the wall outside Nelson’s home. Authorities, however, would not confirm how many shots were fired or whether Nelson shot at the officers.

But police said the two officers fired at least one round “simultaneously” at Nelson. Authorities say the fatal wound was a single gunshot to the neck.

Nelson was rushed to Ventura County Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 1:32 a.m. Wednesday.

Nelson’s family received a call from the coroner’s office about 9 a.m., Hernandez said. By Wednesday afternoon, Nelson’s mother and four younger sisters were still trying to piece together what happened.

Beverly Nelson, a visibly shaken sister, arrived at the shooting scene just before 11 a.m. to plead with investigators for more information.

“Please!” Nelson begged, calling out to detectives behind the yellow police tape blocking her brother’s unit. “My mother doesn’t even know what happened.”

Later, at the Ventura home of their mother, 61-year-old Elaine Secor, Beverly Nelson and other family members said police had only given them sketchy details. Relatives could not believe that Nelson, the eldest of five children and Secor’s only son, the one everyone considered “the rock of the family,” had acted so erratically.

“This is just a shock to me,” said Nelson’s brother-in-law Hans Bergkamp, 43, of Oxnard. “I think he was just depressed. But, you know, he was always such a strong guy.”

Nelson took care of his mother after her husband died of a heart attack four years ago, according to family members. Nelson had served as her handyman, running most of her errands and helping with housekeeping chores, family members said.

“We all had our own problems from time to time,” Hernandez said. “But Nick, he was there for everybody. Especially my mom. He was a best friend. He was their rock.”

But Nelson was apparently experiencing a few problems of his own. A self-employed plasterer by trade, Nelson had recently broken a few ribs while on the job, the family said. And he had debt problems, his sister said. But no one in the family said they ever saw severe signs of depression of the type that would have pushed him to confront police with a loaded revolver and ask to be shot.

“He didn’t have any problems like this before,” said Bergkamp, who said he was angry at the officers who fired at Nelson. “All I know is, if the police never showed up, there wouldn’t have been a shooting--that’s the way I see it. And I know he wasn’t suicidal. No way. No way.”

Police said the two officers involved in the shooting have been placed on paid administrative leave while investigators look into the slaying. The officers will receive counseling during their time off, Handy said.

“You have to remember, they were victims here. The family are victims too, and I feel for them. . . . But keep in mind, we have officers as victims today. The use of a firearm against an officer is clearly life-threatening. There was a physical threat to their life,” Handy said.

He said five other officers responded as backup to help evacuate neighbors.

The slaying marks the second officer-involved shooting in Ventura this year. In April, police shot to death 29-year-old Jason Todd Hayley of Ventura during Ventura’s annual Artwalk celebration.

Police said Hayley, a transient, carried a revolver and burst through several downtown businesses, even running from rooftop to rooftop to escape police, before authorities shot him.