Tucson CitizenTucson Citizen

Man police killed was being investigated

Citizen Staff Writer
LAW AND ORDER REPORT

SHERYL KORNMAN

skornman@tucsoncitizen.com

A standoff that ended with police killing an East Side man began when officers went to his home to investigate allegations of child molestation, records show.

Investigators found evidence including pink-and-white underwear in Stanley Barr’s home after he was fatally shot April 6.

Barr, 48, who used crutches because he had cerebral palsy, came to the door armed with a handgun and pointed it at officers, according to police reports.

He also indicated he may have intended to “commit suicide by cop,” said Sgt. Fabian Pacheco, a Tucson police spokesman.

Barr told the officers “something to the effect of, ‘you gotta do what you gotta do,’ ” according to the reports.

“He (Barr) did pose a threat to the officers in spite of his medical condition,” Pacheco said. He was able to brandish a handgun.

“Officers have to use lethal force against lethal force,” Pacheco said in an interview Thursday.

“We don’t use Taser or pepper spray against someone armed with a handgun.”

Barr’s handgun was in his pocket as he walked to the front door of his home, police who watched him through a window wrote in their reports.

He refused efforts to get him to “relinquish the weapon,” the reports state.

“As officers spoke with (Barr), he chambered a round in the pistol and put the gun to his head.”

Then Barr pointed his weapon directly at police, the report states. Patrol officers Loren Layton and Steven Boggie fired, killing Barr.

“It’s a very unfortunate incident,” Pacheco said.

He said Barr “taunted” the officers.

“Mr. Barr chose to make that decision to not obey those commands from the officers and to level the gun at the officers and it ended up with tragic results,” Pacheco said.

Police reports describe how the day unfolded for Barr.

His wife called 911 that afternoon to report the alleged sexual molestation of a minor, a female family member.

She told police she and Barr got into a verbal confrontation over the matter.

Afterward, when he went into a bedroom and “got into the bag where he kept his gun,” she left their home, near East 22nd Street and Wilmot Road, and called police.

Sex crimes investigators were assigned to the case and a forensic interview was conducted with the alleged victim.

Investigators had enough evidence to seek a search warrant for the home, Pacheco said.

The search warrant request said probable cause existed to believe there were suicide notes and handguns in the home.

However, no suicide note was found.

A note collected as evidence was “indecipherable,” Pacheco said.

Plainclothes detectives had begun surveillance of Barr’s house by midafternoon. The search warrant allowed them to enter the home after 10:30 p.m.

Plainclothes detectives wore vests identifying them as police as they approached the front door of the home shortly before midnight, Pacheco said.

Investigators from the Child Sex Assault Unit were there to collect DNA evidence from Barr.

In searching the home, officer seized 9 mm Smith & Wesson handguns, pink shorts with candy canes and paws, a pink blanket, salmon-colored bedsheets and pink-and-white underwear.

The shooting ended the molestation investigation.

Police reports state none of the officers “rendered aid” to Barr before Tucson Fire Department paramedics arrived.

He was pronounced dead at University Medical Center at 12:35 a.m.

Layton and Boggie, who each have four years in the department, are back on patrol.

The Police Department is conducting an investigation into the shooting, which is routine.

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