Father of knife-wielding suspect that attacked police officers calls his death "murder"

42-year-old Michael Habay slipped on motocross armor and allegedly armed himself with a pair of knives (pictured above) when Boulder Police came to check on the welfare of his live-in girlfriend after neighbors saw him with the knives, and heard him making threats. When a police entry team breached the door, Habay allegedly charged, and was deflected by the police point man carrying a ballistic shield. Habay then charged a second officer, who shot and killed him.

Advertisement

Habay’s father has taken issue with the shooting.

Noting their officers took “reasonable measures” to protect lives, Boulder police officials on Monday defended the actions of the 14-year veteran who shot and killed a man over the weekend, saying the officer had reason to believe the knife-wielding suspect was about to stab him.

But the suspect’s father placed the blame on police, saying the officer-involved shooting that claimed his son’s life was a “murder.”

The Boulder County Coroner’s Office on Monday officially identified the shooting victim as 42-year-old Michael Habay.
His father, William Habay, of Illinois, told the Daily Camera on Sunday that his son was renting the unit at Wimbledon Condominiums, 3009 Madison St., from him.

When reached again by phone Monday, William Habay called the shooting a “murder.”

“He had knives, they had rifles,” he said. “That’s murder.”

Advertisement

The younger and now room temperature Habay has a criminal record on a number of charges, and had been arrested earlier in the year for felony menacing and harassment, but the case had not yet gone to court.

Habay’s girlfriend was later found hiding in another apartment.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member