The Muncie SWAT team shot a man in a southside Muncie apartment late Wednesday night during the execution of a search warrant.
Lyle Blair, 28, was shot in the abdomen, said Terry Winters, deputy chief of Muncie Police. A representative at Ball Memorial Hospital said no information was available on Blair's medical condition. But according to Associated Press reports, Blair died at the hospital about 14 hours after the shooting.
Winters said the SWAT team entered Blair's apartment, 2402 E. 16th St. at 10:25 p.m.
The SWAT team was executing a search warrant for narcotics that was based off the suspicion of dealing with cocaine, Winters said.
Drug task officers could not be reached Thursday to verify if cocaine was found.
The officers ordered the four people in the apartment to the ground, but Blair ran into the back bedroom and closed the door, Winters said.
When officer Steve Baugh followed him into the room, Blair picked up an "assault" knife and ran toward Baugh, even after Baugh had ordered him to drop the knife, Winters said.
He said Baugh shot Blair one time in the abdomen.
"(Baugh) was trying to protect himself," Winters said. "We went through the reports, and it looks legal."
The three other people in the apartment, Robert Roach, 25, Michael Gibson, 48, and Heidi Lutton, 26, were arrested on charges of visiting a common nuisance.
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