Wichita officer who shot man thought woman had been stabbed

Wichita police are investigating a shooting in which a 29-year-old man was fatally shot by a police officer Monday morning, Chief Gordon Ramsay said.

The man, identified by friends as Jose Ortiz, later died at the hospital, Via Christi Hospital St. Francis confirmed.

Officers were sent to a home in the 1300 block of North Wellington at about 7:15 a.m. They were told a man inside the home was holding his girlfriend at knifepoint and had possibly been smoking meth, Ramsay said.

Officers tried talking to the man from outside the home, but were unable to contact him, Ramsay said. At 8:03 a.m., the officer’s heard the woman’s screaming intensify and called for the SWAT Team, he said. At 8:15 a.m., officers went inside the home.

There they found Ortiz holding his 42-year-old girlfriend at knifepoint. Her hands, Ramsay said, were tied behind her back. Ortiz held the knife at her side.

In body camera footage released Monday afternoon, a man is shown backed into a corner beside a dining room table holding a woman with her hands behind her back. In one photo, the woman’s back is to police, showing that her hands are tied with an electrical cord.

Minutes after police got inside the home, the woman arched her back, making an officer believe Ortiz had stabbed her, so he fired a shot, Ramsay said.

Four children, ages 3, 9, 10 and 11 were inside the home.

The officer is an 18-year veteran with the department, Ramsay said. The officer has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, which follows the department’s policy in officer-involved shootings.

The woman was injured and treated on the scene, but the extent of her injuries or if she was stabbed is unknown, the chief said.

The shooting is still under investigation and police are reviewing body camera footage, Ramsay said. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation and Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office is helping with the investigation.

“I have met with the family and am very sad for their loss,” Ramsay said. “This is a good, hardworking family and my heart goes out to them.”

This story was originally published August 7, 2017 at 10:13 AM with the headline "Wichita officer who shot man thought woman had been stabbed."