Police wound man after standoff

<br> TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- A police sniper shot and wounded a Tulsa man Friday morning when the man moved toward a neighbor's home with a loaded gun, police said. <br><br>Billy Mays, 43, was shot

Friday, June 30th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- A police sniper shot and wounded a Tulsa man Friday morning when the man moved toward a neighbor's home with a loaded gun, police said.

Billy Mays, 43, was shot once in the lower back about 15 minutes after police arrived at his duplex around 5 a.m., Sgt. Wayne Allen said. Mays was in serious condition at a Tulsa hospital.

Allen said police were called by another neighbor who reported seeing a man carrying what looked like a gun and rattling her front gate.

"When they arrived, they heard two gunshots," Allen said.

The officers did not know who fired the shots or where they came from. They encountered Mays in the driveway of the duplex. He was carrying a small handgun, Allen said.

Mays began acting irrational, "pointing the gun at his own head, asking police to kill him." Police made the decision to keep Mays from going to the adjoining duplex, where a woman and two children lived, Allen said.

When Mays attempted to climb the stairs to that duplex, a police sharpshooter fired one round from a 12-gauge shotgun, knocking Mays to the ground. Allen said police had been called to Mays' home at 10 p.m.Thursday after a report that he was acting strangely. He said hedid not know what Mays was doing to draw suspicion.

A mental outreach crisis team determined at the time that Mays did not meet the criteria to be taken into protective custody, Allen said.