Mike R. McCollum

Less-than-lethal force

Mike R. McCollum held officers at bay for 10 hours before he died of smoke inhalation after a fire broke out inside his house. Smoke canisters that police lobbed into the home at around 6 p.m. caused McCollum's death, city fire marshal Robert Rocha said. According to Rocha, the smoke canisters shot sparks as hot as 1,400 degrees and apparently ignited a couch. Firefighters were already at the scene when the fire started at around 7 p.m., but Rocha said the smoke canisters made it difficult to tell there was a fire. It took firefighters about 10 minutes to enter the house and McCollum had died by then. Police later said they believed McCollum had killed Martin C. Morris, 42, and 39-year-old Leandre Gibson, 39, in separate incidents.