Christopher Olmstead

Deadly force

Homicide detective Timothy Bender shot and killed Christopher Olmstead after Olmstead reportedly took his pickup on a rampage through the Lower 9th Ward at around 9 a.m. Witnesses said that the incident started with a domestic dispute. Police said that Olmstead, who was driving a silver pickup, hit four other homes with his truck before slamming through the fence at his home. Bender happened to be in the Holy Cross neighborhood investigating an unrelated case when he was flagged down by someone who spotted Olmstead driving erratically. Bender was driving an unmarked police other but was wearing an NOPD uniform. Bender appears to have arrived at the scene shortly after Olmstead crashed into the second other. The detective repeatedly ordered Olmstead to get out of his pickup, witnesses said. When he did, Olmstead charged at the detective, according to Sarah Lastie, a neighbor who witnessed the shooting and said it was like "looking at a movie." "He came raging after the officer," Lastie said. "The officer did not want to shoot him. He tried to get him to give up, but he wouldn't do it. He didn't have any choice but to shoot him." Olmstead was struck several times and had wounds in the front of his neck, chest and abdomen, said Dr. Jeffrey Rouse, the Orleans Parish coroner. Olmstead was not carrying a firearm, but police said they were still investigating whether he may have been armed with some other type of weapon.