Witnesses feared for their lives in incident that ended in a police shooting

Witnesses told police that they thought Tyler J. Randant was going to kill them in an incident that ended with two police officers shooting Randant on Nov. 7.

One woman told police that Randant assaulted her in the parking lot of the River Inn at 700 N. Division, pushing her up against a car and demanding her car keys. She was able to convince him she didn’t have any and he walked away, according to court documents filed on Thursday. The woman told police she then saw Randant open the passenger side door of a northbound car stopped at a red light.

A woman forced to stop while driving south on Division said Randant climbed on the hood of her car with a large knife in his hand, screaming, according to court documents. She was able to drive away when he moved toward the driver’s side door but she told police she had been trying to decide whether to run Randant over in order to escape, court documents said.

Officers Cory Lyons and Holt Widhalm briefly chased Randant on foot and ordered him to drop the knife several times, according to court documents. Both officers fired when Randant attempted to enter a Chevy Blazer parked at the Cenex gas station pumps with two people inside.

As of Friday afternoon Randant was still in the hospital and had not yet been arrested.