Bellevue officer shoots man who reportedly had knife

A police officer responding to a disturbance call late Tuesday shot and killed a 62-year-old man outside a Bellevue strip mall after the man wielded a knife and charged the officer, police said.

"The officer was trying to detain him," Bellevue Police spokeswoman Carla Iafrata said this morning. "That's when the suspect charged the officer with a knife in his hand, and the officer shot and killed him."

The dead man was identified as John Pebles, 62.

His wife, Mary Kay Pebles, told KIRO-TV and KOMO-TV that she had locked Pebles out of their apartment Tuesday and that he tried to break a window with a planter.

Mary Kay Pebles said she and her husband were separating after eight years of marriage because of his temper. She said he had retired after 44 years with Burlington Northern Santa Fe and that they had moved eight years ago from Spokane.

The incident began shortly after 11 p.m. at an apartment building in the 12200 block of Northeast 8th Street.

An apartment resident called 911, reporting "a man yelling and threatening and pounding on a door at an apartment," Iafrata said. As police were heading to the scene, the man began walking away from the apartments westbound, along Northeast 8th Street.

An officer found the man walking near a small strip mall just east of a gas station at Northeast 8th and 120th Avenue Northeast, Iafrata said.

The officer, who has been on the Bellevue Police force for six years, "contacted the suspect in the area of the strip mall," Iafrata said. After the officer "gave him verbal commands," the man wielded a knife and charged, she said.

After the shooting, authorities tried to resuscitate the man, who later was pronounced dead at the scene.

Eyewitnesses to the incident saw the man's attempts to attack the officer with an knife, Iafrata added.

Police plan to release more details later today, Iafrata said.

The officer has been placed on administrative leave, which is routine after officer-involved shootings.

Lewis Kamb: 206-464-2341 or lkamb@seattletimes.com

Seattle Times staff reporter Sara Jean Green and The Associated Press contributed to this report