JOHNSTOWN —
Three Johnstown police officers involved in the fatal shooting of a city man early Monday were interviewed Wednesday by state police investigators, authorities said.
Details of the interviews and the names of the officers were not released.
First Assistant District Attorney Heath Long said that the interviews are part of the ongoing probe that is being conducted by the state police.
Events leading to the homicide began when one man shot another outside Edder’s Den, a North Sheridan Street bar.
Minutes later, the deadly shooting by police took place several blocks away on North Sheridan.
Still to be determined is whether the use of deadly force was justified.
State police have said that the three policemen fired their weapons at a car that was accelerating toward police officers and vehicles, a stopped car and a handcuffed woman. One of the officers is a 15-year veteran of the force, another is a four-year veteran and the third is a one-year patrolman.
Johnstown attorney Dennis McGlynn, solicitor for Fraternal Order of Police Flood City Lodge, declined to comment on the interviews of the officers or whether he was present for them.
The driver of the approaching car was Elip Cheatham, 27, who died from multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at 1:55 a.m. Monday in the operating room at Memorial Medical Center.
A front-seat passenger in the Cheatham car was wounded and treated at the hospital.
His identity has not been released.
The back-seat passenger, Cardell “CJ” Clinton, had been wounded in the earlier shooting outside the bar.
Clinton, 20, of Johnstown, was admitted to the hospital and remained in fair condition Wednesday, a hospital nursing supervisor said.
Cheatham’s funeral will be Friday in Philadelphia, where many of his family members live. A viewing will be held at 9:30 a.m. followed by the service at 11 a.m. at Savin Funeral Home, 802 N. 12th St., Philadelphia.
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