Man killed by police had purchased gun that day

A man fatally shot by Chesterfield County police after he opened fire on SWAT team members two weeks ago purchased a revolver from Green Top Sporting Goods in Hanover County that same day, state firearm transaction records show.

Brett Michael Rivers, 36, received instant approval to purchase the weapon Aug. 31 after an electronic background check, according to the record of the transaction obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Police confirmed yesterday that Rivers later brandished that same gun at his former girlfriend at The Park at Salisbury apartments in Midlothian, where she worked and Rivers lived. That confrontation shortly after 6 p.m. led to a standoff that ended with police fatally wounding Rivers after he emerged from his apartment and fired several shots at SWAT team members, authorities said.

Police tried negotiating with Rivers, a Microsoft Corp. employee, for about 2½ hours.

Chesterfield police Capt. Terry Patterson said the initial confrontation between Rivers and his former girlfriend was related to their recent breakup.

Patterson also confirmed that Rivers had expressed suicidal sentiments and that he may have been drinking.

"We understand during the time he was barricaded in the apartment, he was on the telephone with family members," Patterson said. "And based on our conversations with them . . . he made statements that would indicate he was having suicidal thoughts."

Rivers made similar statements during negotiations with police, Patterson said.

Police are awaiting the results of toxicology tests to determine whether Rivers was intoxicated. Patterson said there was evidence "that would lead us to believe that alcohol was involved."

On the Virginia Firearms Transaction Record that Rivers completed to purchase the gun, he wrote "no" to three standard questions that would have barred him from buying the weapon had he answered "yes."

He certified that he had never been convicted of a felony; was not the subject of a court order restraining him from harassing, stalking or threatening a child or intimate partner; and had never been legally declared mentally incapacitated or involuntary committed to a psychiatric facility.

Police have no information to suggest he lied.

During a search of his apartment, police recovered a black revolver, ammunition, a plastic Ruger handgun box, a handgun lock and a receipt from Green Top for the gun, according to a search warrant inventory filed in Chesterfield Circuit Court.

Investigators are finishing their investigation and have conferred with the commonwealth's attorney's office.

Rhonda Potter, Rivers' former girlfriend, could not be located for comment. An employee who answered the phone at The Park at Salisbury office said Potter no longer is employed there.

Contact Mark Bowes at (804) 649-6450 or .