Minnesota– The suspect faces felony charges of second-degree murder and first-degree assault. If convicted, he could face up to 40 years in prison for the murder charge and up to 20 years for his assault charge.
Medina Police received a call about a suicidal person at a Minneapolis motel. When they arrived, they encountered a man, who said his son, Donald Kalib John Nichols, 23 was suicidal and had left after the ambulance arrived. He told police that Nichols had talked about “suicide by cop.”
Officers then heard what sounded like a person in the woods and Nichols was soon located standing in thick brush holding a machete knife with both hands. He was holding it in the direction of two police officers.
When officers yelled for him to drop the knife and put his hands up, Nichols refused to comply.
Then, a deputy who was approaching Nichols from behind fired a Taser and struck the back of Nichols leg. Nichols then yelled an invective at the deputy, ran toward him and began swinging the machete at him, striking the deputy’s baton and his upper body. The deputy believed Nichols was trying to kill him.
Nichols continued to attack the deputy until he was shot by an officer.
