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Man With Knife Slain By Bradenton Officer, Authorities Say

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BY BART PFANKUCH

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: August 5, 2008

BRADENTON - A police officer shot and killed a man Monday after the man reportedly charged the officer with a knife.

The shooting happened around 1:40 p.m. at a home at 1711 12th Ave. W.

Bradenton police Chief Michael Radzilowski said the event began when residents of the two-story rental home called police because the resident of a rear apartment was threatening them with a knife.

The residents, a man and woman, came outside and were peering around a corner of the home when an officer pulled up, said witness Ron Hutchins, an employee of Woodruff & Sons construction who was paving a sidewalk across the street.

The officer went to the rear of the home, and almost immediately four or five shots were fired, Hutchins said.

He said he could hear the officer "yelling commands, and next thing you know, bang, bang, bang, bang."

Radzilowski said residents of the home said the man had a history of mental issues, and police were checking to see if he was taking his medication.

The man, Matthew B. Schoenwald, 24, charged at the officer with a large knife, authorities said.

"We don't know if it was suicide by cop or if he just snapped," Radzilowski said.

The officer, Leo Donnelly, was placed on routine administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation, Deputy Chief J.J. Lewis said. Donnelly, an officer since 1995, was not injured; he had never previously been involved in a police shooting, Lewis said.

Radzilowski said a preliminary investigation showed no wrongdoing on the part of Donnelly: "As far as we know now, all the guidelines for use of deadly force were followed."

About 25 minutes after the shooting, paramedics wheeled Schoenwald away from the home on a stretcher to an ambulance a block away, giving him CPR all the while. Wounds to his chest or side were visible. Schoenwald was taken to Manatee Memorial Hospital, where he died, a hospital spokesman said.

A neighbor, Mike Rigg, said he has seen drug arrests but never a shooting in the neighborhood, located in central Bradenton about two blocks west of the Tamiami Trail. "This is usually a pretty calm neighborhood," he said.

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