Officer identified in fatal Spokane shooting

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Authorities have identified a 16-year veteran as the Spokane police officer who shot and killed an armed and suicidal man this past week.

Officer Dan Lesser, a member of the SWAT team, was one of the officers who on Monday encountered 45-year-old James Edward Rogers in a two-hour standoff that ended when Rogers flipped his truck.

On Thursday, authorities said Lesser opened fire when he saw Rodger reach for a shotgun.

The investigation into the shooting, being led by the Spokane County’s sheriff’s department, is on-going.

The Spokesman Review reports (http://bit.ly/oYwbGg ) that in 2009, when Lesser was a K-9 officer he shot and killed a 22-year-old suspected car thief, who had fired a gun at officers and shot Lesser’s police dog, Var. Investigators later said the shooting was justified.