Johnson City Police Officer David W. Smith
Johnson City Police Officer David W. Smith
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Johnson City police officer David W. Smith died Monday morning, shortly after he was shot by a medical technician.

Police chief Joseph Zikuski says the 43-year-old Smith was shot two times by an MRI technician who worked at Southern Tier Imaging at 32 Harrison Street.

Bob Joseph/WNBF News
Bob Joseph/WNBF News
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Smith, who was an officer with the Johnson City Police Department for 18-and-a-half-years, died at the nearby Wilson Medical Center about an hour after the shooting.

Zikuski says Smith was shot by 43-year-old James Clark of Turner Street in Greene.

Bob Joseph/WNBF News
Bob Joseph/WNBF News
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The police chief says Smith had responded to a reported disturbance at Southern Tier Imaging shortly after 7 a.m.

By 7:06, police radio transmissions indicated shots had been fired.

Zikuski says Clark had arrived at work in an "obviously unstable mental condition." He tried to keep other employees from entering, claiming there was a bomb inside.

The police chief says Clark punched Officer Smith several times while the officer was still in his patrol vehicle.

Clark managed to wrestle Smith's 40-caliber service weapon from him and shot the officer once. Zikuski says Smith fell to the ground and was shot two more times.

The chief says responding officers shot Clark several times. He was pronounced dead at 10:22 at Wilson Medical Center.

Zikuski says "everything appeared to be normal" when Clark left his home in Greene this morning. But that had changed by the time he arrived at work in Johnson City.

The Endicott Police Department bomb squad was called to check the Harrison Street building for explosive devices because of the threats made by Clark. No suspicious items were found during a building search.

Zikuski says investigators would search Clark's car, which was located in a nearby parking lot. They also planned to search the suspect's home.

Officer Smith had started his shift less than 20 minutes before he was dispatched to the reported disturbance.

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