Spokane police officer who killed armed man last week identified

May 27-Spokane police released on Wednesday the name of the officer who shot and killed an armed 28-year-old man after a struggle with police one week ago in the Logan Neighborhood.

Officer Britton Ballard, 29, discharged his weapon, killing Kaleb Hassel. Ballard joined Spokane police in 2020.

Officers were called early in the morning of May 21 to a home in the 2000 block of North Cincinnati Street after an out-of-state family member reported Hassel and his wife were in a domestic dispute and Hassel was making suicidal statements, according to a Spokane Independent Investigative Response Team news release Wednesday. Two children, an infant and a toddler, were at the home.

Dispatchers contacted the wife by phone and were told Hassel had been drinking, had a gun, possibly a knife and was threatening to kill himself if she called the police or left him, investigators said.

Police officers responded just prior to 5 a.m. and contacted the wife through an elevated window and learned she and her two children were unable to evacuate safely because Hassel was in the living room. Officers could hear a man and woman arguing. The woman was crying and yelling, "No, no, no," and "Please don't!" followed by more screaming, the man yelling, the mention of a gun and the sound of a possible scuffle between the two, according to the release.

Officers then entered the home and saw a struggle between the woman and Hassel, who was holding a gun. Officers intervened and a brief struggle ensued among the officers, the wife and Hassel. Ballard discharged his weapon, striking Hassel in the head.

Officers moved the woman and children to a safe location and provided Hassel with lifesaving medical treatment until relieved by medics. Hassel died at the scene and no one else was injured.

Investigators recovered a semiautomatic handgun, a loaded magazine and a knife at the location.

Investigators ask anyone who has not been contacted by detectives and who either witnessed the incident or has video of it to call Crime Check at 509-456-2233.

The Spokane County Sheriff's Office is leading the investigation.

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