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Oklahoma man fatally shot by police was mistaken for escaped Sedalia inmate

Posted at 5:05 PM, Mar 15, 2019
and last updated 2019-03-15 18:05:43-04

SALLISAW, Okla. (AP) — Authorities say a knife-wielding Oklahoma man who was fatally shot by police had been reported as a possible Missouri jail escape.

Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Brook Arbeitman says 27-year-old Shawn Taylor Watie of Stilwell was shot by two officers in Sallisaw Thursday when he "came after" them with a knife. He died at a hospital.

Watie's brother-in-law, Jerod Neal, told local news station KFSM-TV that Watie was walking to work when he was shot. Neal said he doesn't believe the police account because Watie was not combative.

Arbeitman says police found Watie while investigating reports of a man thought to be 30-year-old Travis Lee Davis, who escaped Sunday from a jail in Sedalia, Missouri. Davis was last seen Wednesday after authorities say he stole a police car while handcuffed in Heavener, Oklahoma, then disappeared after crashing the vehicle.