Police Chief Linda Pillo issued a statement Wednesday, after public alarm about Bellevue SWAT’s involvement in a fatal shooting of robbery suspect, Russell Lydell Smith. Pillo said that it was the first Bellevue SWAT involved shooting death and explained that the officers involved are now on administrative leave pending an investigation by the Seattle Police Department.

“No law enforcement officer wants to be involved in a lethal use of force,” said Pillo. “Unfortunately, at times it cannot be avoided.”

Bellevue SWAT reportedly arrived in the early hours of Friday, Mar. 22 to serve a warrant at the Columbia City home of a suspect’s brother. When they spotted the individual in his car near South Hudson Street and 42nd Avenue South, he reversed into the vehicle parked behind him.

Police say that he then shifted gears, and fearing that he was going to run them over, Bellevue SWAT opened fire, fatally wounding Smith. The three officers involved were Casey Hiam, Jacob Bement and Jacob Childers.

“Bellevue Police were serving an arrest and search warrant that morning to apprehend a serious and violent offender suspected of at least three Bellevue robberies,” said Pillo, “and to recover evidence of the crimes of robbery.”

Smith’s criminal history also includes felony and misdemeanor convictions for burglary, felony theft, assault of a child, felony assault, bank robbery and parole violations. Pillo says that the Federal Government had labeled him an armed career criminal, and the Department of Corrections a violent offender. It was for that reason that Bellevue SWAT served the warrant. She added that it was not unusual for police agencies to make arrests outside their jurisdiction.

The case has also attracted attention because officer Hiam was involved in a shooting in 2009, when he was charged by a person with a knife. Witness accounts corroborated that his use of force was permissible. Once the investigation is completed by the Seattle Police Department, the case will then be forwarded to the King County Prosecutor’s Office.

See Police Chief Pillo’s full statement here.