ST. LOUIS — A friend of officer Nathaniel Hendren talked exclusively to 5 On Your Side about an officer-involved shooting that killed Katlyn Alix.
"I'm just in awe like. I really can't believe it," said Austin Loethen.
It's been nearly 10 years since Loethen met Nathaniel Hendren.
"Everybody wanted to be around him just a fantastic stand-up guy," said Loethen.
The friends first met in college back in 2008.
"We just became really good buddies. We were together all the time in college. We were inseparable."
Loethen said Hendren always had the ambition to serve his community. He said after he left high school the officer joined the Marine Corps and took a tour in Afghanistan.
"He was a Marine Corps veteran so he served our country."
After studying criminal justice in college, Hendren moved to St. Louis, where he became a police officer. Loethen even attended Hendren's graduation from the police academy in November 2017.
"I remember as he was getting close to college always talking about his aspirations of being a police officer," he said.
However, he never imagined his friend would be at the center of a tragic shooting involving a fellow officer.
"It's just absolutely shocking to me," he said.
St. Louis police say Thursday Hendren shot and killed officer Alix at a home on Dover Street in south St. Louis. She was off duty at the time.
"It just seems like a horrible horrible mistake," he said.
Police say Nathaniel and another officer were home at the time. They say he mishandled a gun, shooting Alix in the chest.
"It hard to believe that something like this can happen to somebody that you can be so close to," said Loethen.
Loethen says Hendren's mishandling of his gun was careless but called him a good guy.
"It just seems like a careless mistake that seems to not quite fit his profile and his personality."
5 On Your Side still working to find out when Hendren is expected to appear in court on the charges of involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action.