The police shot dead a 41-year-old man wielding a meat cleaver in a Sikh temple in Ohio on Thursday after he refused to drop the weapon, officials said.
The man identified as Ravinder Najjar of Bedford, Ohio was shot after men at the Guru Gobind Singh Sikh Temple flagged down a police officer on patrol, complaining that he was chasing around two priests with a long meat cleaver.
Upon entering the temple, police noticed Najjar coming down some steps, brandishing the cleaver. He approached them and was shot when he kept moving toward them and did not drop the weapon despite the warning.
"The officer yelled, 'Stop, drop the knife, drop the knife,'" Bedford Police Chief Greg Duber told the WOIO-TV.
"The individual kept coming toward him and he shot him."
A total of five shots were fired, three of which hit Najjar. He was pronounced dead at the Bedford Medical Center. The officer was placed on the standard three-day administrative leave.
Najjar was a member of the temple but had no religious motivation for his threatening behavior, Duber said. Temple member Baltek Singh termed the incident 'disturbing'.
"It happened in a place of worship. It is even disturbing for anyone or everyone," he said.
Najjar, who has a police record, was arrested in 2008 for disorderly conduct. He had been involved in incidents of intoxication, fighting and acting strangely. While in jail, he was even referred for a mental health consultation.
The temple too had been in trouble previously. In 2004 factions in the temple disagreed over how to run the place and whether leaders should wear beards and turbans. The feud led to fistfights and brought police to the location 11 times in nine months.
