news-record.com

GREENSBORO — A 17-year-old fatally shot by a Guilford County deputy Tuesday previously had attacked family members and threatened to fight law enforcement officers, according to documents released Wednesday.

Christian Rook was shot Tuesday afternoon by Deputy Barry Glosson, who had responded to a domestic dispute at Rook’s home at 4810 Montline Drive in northwest Guilford County.

After the teen came at the deputy with a kitchen knife, the officer shot him with his handgun, Sheriff BJ Barnes said Tuesday.

But this wasn’t the first time deputies had responded to the teen’s home, according to records obtained Wednesday.

Emergency call logs show that on Dec. 3, someone at Rook’s home called 911 about a domestic dispute.

The caller told a dispatcher that Rook “had just got out of the mental ward ... for attempting to stab his brother” and he was “making threats to fight police if they come out.”

The teenager also was threatening to kill someone at the house, the log says.

According to court records, that’s the same day Rook was arrested on a charge of assault and battery after punching two members of his family multiple times.

Records show the teen’s mother said at his first appearance before a judge that her son suffered from bipolar disorder.

Rook later pleaded guilty and served 12 days in the High Point jail.

On Tuesday about 12:30 p.m. , violence at the home escalated again when deputies were called to check on reports the teen had threatened his family with a kitchen knife.

According to two 911 calls from the home, Rook’s grandmother said he was threatening her, his mother and his brother with the weapon.

In the first call, Rook could be heard in the background screaming profanities at family members and threatening, “I am going to cut somebody,” as a second woman begs him to put down the knife.

The call abruptly ends, but the grandmother — whom the dispatcher later calls 'Diane’ — makes a second call, saying Rook had grabbed the phone and thrown it to the ground. “He’s outside, and we did have the doors locked, but my other grandson went out,” the woman said.

“He’s threatened me. He’s threatened his brother. He threatened his mother. ... We have the doors locked.”

The dispatcher tells the woman deputies are on their way — and a brief, loud exchange can be heard in the background followed by screams.

Barnes said Tuesday that Glosson shot Rook after the teen advanced toward him with the knife and did not follow demands that he put the weapon down.

In an official recording of sheriff’s emergency radio traffic, Glosson tells dispatchers: “He won’t drop the knife.” That’s followed by: “Shots fired! Send me EMS.”

The deputy then says he is providing Rook with medical attention and asks for other officers to respond quickly.

Rook was transported to Moses Cone Hospital where he later died.

Glosson also was transported to the hospital for stress-related chest pains after the incident. The deputy was released from the hospital Tuesday night and has been placed on paid administrative leave, a common procedure after an officer-involved shooting. The SBI is handling the investigation of the incident, also a routine practice.

When a citizen or an officer is faced with the threat of injury or loss of life, officers are trained to use deadly force to stop the threat. Officers are instructed to fire at the torso.

Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or ryan.seals@news-record.com