OFFICERS KILL ARMED MAN; VENTURA POLICE RESPOND TO CALL OF SHOTS FIRED IN APARTMENT.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Daily News Staff Writer

A 43-year-old man was shot and killed by Ventura police officers early Wednesday morning after he fired shots in his apartment, then stepped outside waving the gun at officers who were evacuating neighbors from the complex.

Nicholas Louis Nelson of Ventura died of a gunshot wound to the neck shortly after the shootout that startled the typically quiet neighborhood in the Ventura Keys.

There were no other injuries, police said.

Neighborhood acquaintances said Nelson had lived quietly in the complex for about eight years.

Police arrived at the 2600 block of Harbor Boulevard near Peninsula Street about 12:30 a.m., responding to neighbors' calls that shots had been fired in the area.

Officers spread out across the complex and saw a man with a handgun in one of the ground-floor units, said Ventura police Lt. Carl Handy.

``They could see in a window, and they saw a man sitting in a chair with a gun,'' Handy said.

Another shot was fired from inside the building, and officers began to evacuate the complex. About seven or eight officers were on the scene.

Nelson came outside the one-bedroom apartment with a .357-caliber handgun in his hand as residents were evacuating the building, Handy said.

``The officers immediately began talking to him, (asking) him to surrender,'' Handy said.

``His response back was a lot of profanity,'' and he told police to shoot him, Handy said. The man began brandishing the weapon and advancing toward the officers, Handy said. The man did not fire the weapon once he was outside, Handy said.

``Two officers almost simultaneously fired,'' Handy said.

The names of the officers involved have not been released. Police would not say which weapons the officers fired, nor if the man suffered other wounds.

Nelson was taken to the Ventura County Medical Center, where he died about 1:30 a.m.

Searching the building later, police found no one else in the apartment.

Residents of the neighborhood near the harbor were startled by the after-midnight gunshots, and did not know what had provoked the man to fire his gun.

Ken Couch said he heard yelling shortly before the first gunshots rang out in the usually quiet neighborhood in the Ventura Keys.

``About maybe 12:30 or so, there was one or two gunshots,'' said Couch, who did not know the dead man. ``Then five minutes later, I heard one or two more. It must have been a small gun, because it wasn't very loud. And then I heard two loud shots. It was probably a shotgun, because it was a lot louder than the other ones.''

A gardener working at the apartments said he'd known Nelson for several years.

``He was a pretty nice guy,'' said the man, who declined to give his name. ``He was always quiet, never caused any problems the whole time he was here.''

Theresa Parks, an area apartment manager who was helping the property owner to rent a vacant unit in the complex, said she did not know Nelson but had heard form the property owner that he was a quiet tenant who had lived in the complex for about eight years.

Police are conducting an internal investigation of the incident. The Ventura County District Attorney's office, which investigates all officer-involved shootings, is also investigating, said Richard Holmes, supervisor of major crimes unit in the District Attorney's Office.

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