LAKEWOOD - The estranged wife of Andrew Constable, the man shot and killed by Lakewood police Tuesday morning, disputes a police report that he threatened officers with a gun.

"He had a lot of respect for the police," said Jennifer Constable, 25, of Aurora. "He would never point a gun at a police officer.

"I knew him for nine years. This doesn't make any sense. I think that they shot him for nothing."

Andrew Constable, 27, who worked as a pre- and post-surgery assistant at Porter Adventist Hospital, was killed Tuesday morning by officers responding to a domestic violence call at a home in the 3200 block of South Indiana Street.

A woman, identified as Andrew Constable's former girlfriend, reported that he was threatening her with a gun, according to police.

When officers arrived around 11 a.m., Constable allegedly got out of his car, which was parked in front of the home, and pointed a gun at them.

Police said he refused to drop the gun and fired at least one shot, prompting two officers to return fire, hitting Constable at least once. He was taken to a local hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

"It leaves an officer with little choice, when an individual comes at you with a handgun and threatens you with a shot," said Steve Davis, spokesman for Lakewood police.

The two veteran officers, who were not identified, were put on leave while the Jefferson County Shoot Team investigates.

Jennifer Constable, who separated from Andrew Constable a year ago and shares custody of their 2-year-old son Leland with him, said she was talking to him on the phone for about 40 minutes while he was sitting in his car outside his ex-girlfriend's house before police arrived.

"Andrew was not talking to me in a suicidal way," she said. "He asked me to pick up our son. I was at the doctor's, so I told him I would meet him afterwards."

Jennifer Constable said her husband had moved into the house on Indiana Street two months ago. She said he had broken up with the girlfriend a month ago, but had not moved out.

"She's been trying to get him out of the house," she said. "He's been in the process of moving out. He was getting money from me so he could move out."

At one point during Tuesday's call, Andrew Constable told his wife that he could see his ex-girlfriend on the phone and heard his name being mentioned when she came out onto the porch while still on the phone.

"I asked him, 'Do you think it's the police? Were you guys fighting?' recalled Jennifer Constable. "He said, 'No, I've been on the phone with you.' "

She said she was talking to her husband when police arrived.

"He said, 'Oh my god, the police are here and there's a lot of them,' " she recalled. "He tells me he loves me and says, 'Let me call you back.' "

But she didn't hear from him again. She said she learned about 3 p.m. Tuesday that he was dead.

Jennifer Constable said officers told her the ex-girlfriend had called police at 10:50 a.m., saying she had been threatened by Constable.

She said she believes the ex-girlfriend may have called the police as a way to evict him.

"She was tired of bickering with him, and she figured that it would scare him enough to move," said Jennifer Constable.

Calls to the ex-girlfriend's home were not returned Wednesday.

Jennifer Constable said she knew Andrew Constable had a gun because he had purchased one for her to learn to shoot, but she didn't believe he would ever use it.

She said he may have panicked when he saw the police.

"He may have run back to the car to get the gun so he could give it to them, or it was at his side and he was freaked out," she said. "He would never point a gun at them."

Andrew Constable had been arrested once in Aurora in 2005 for a misdemeanor weapons offense, but the case was later dropped.

"He was a great father, and he spent every last dime he had on Leland. He lived and breathed for Leland. This doesn't make any sense," Jennifer Constable said.

"I don't want his son reading all this horrible crap, that his dad pointed a gun at a police officer or he shot at police.I don't want him to look like a monster."

fongt@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5489

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