mesa cops murder a harmless drunk who had a bb gun Original Article Mesa officers shoot, kill man toting BB gun Jim Walsh The Arizona Republic Oct. 5, 2005 12:00 AM MESA - A man shot and killed by police after he reportedly threatened to kill them was armed with a BB gun that resembled a pistol, police said Tuesday. A drunken-driving suspect, Michael Andrew Howard Sr., 39, reportedly told officers, "I'm going to cap you," after they stopped his black Nissan Altima in the 1900 block of East Fountain about noon Sunday. Howard was the fifth shooting this year by Mesa police, four of them fatal. Last year, there were seven officer-involved shootings, four of them fatal. Sgt. Chuck Trapani, a police spokesman, said two officers spotted what appeared to be a pistol in Howard's waistband when he lifted his shirt and drew the gun. "It was a BB gun, but it resembles a real gun, and he pointed it at the officers," Trapani said. "You can't wait for the suspect to shoot at you." Officers Juan Padilla, a 12-year veteran, and Ryan Gallagher, a five-year veteran, fired multiple shots. Howard, a Salt River Reservation resident, was in Mesa because a friend was going to help him change a tire, police said. Howard had a history of traffic-related arrests and served nine months in the 1980s at the Arizona State Prison at Fort Grant on an auto theft charge.