COVINGTON, Ky. — The longtime girlfriend of the man shot and killed by officers at a Covington apartment complex said he was having a schizophrenic episode at the time of the shooting.
Covington police said two officers shot and killed 34-year-old Charles Neace while responding to an attempted break-in at Cambridge Square Apartments early Thursday morning.
Police Lt. Justin Bradbury said officers responded to the complex after someone called 911 at around 1:30 a.m. reporting a man "beating on" an apartment door with a butcher knife. Capt. Joshua Bornhorn said officers had the man, identified as Neace, at gunpoint when he "came at" them.
The two officers fired multiple shots, hitting. He was taken to UC Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.
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Mekisha Asher was there as officers opened fire.
"I was screaming, like, 'Please don't kill him! He's down," Asher said. "Two cops loaded him up with bullets."
Asher said her boyfriend meant no harm, only banging on their neighbor's door because he was having a schizophrenic episode and hearing voices.
"He'd just been battling them all day and just kept getting worse and worse and I didn't know what to do," Asher said.
Neace was on parole at the time of the shooting, having been convicted in 2023 of wanton endangerment and criminal mischief.
Asher said she believes police should not have opened fire and instead Tased Neace.
"They are here to protect us and they only use their gun until somebody is coming at them," she said. "I saw cause I got out there and I was screaming like, 'Please don't kill him. That's my everything.'"
Kentucky State Police will investigate whether the use of force was justified. No officers were injured, and Covington police said their body cameras were filming.
