A man wielding a hammer was shot three times and killed by police officers at the Iroquois Homes public housing complex Saturday night, a police spokesman said.

The man, who was in his 40s, was shot in the stomach and taken to University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, said Dwight Mitchell, the police spokesman.

Four Louisville Metro police officers have been placed on routine, paid administrative leave pending a police investigation of the shooting, Mitchell said.

A police officer had responded to a "trouble call" in the 1500 block of Oneida Court at 8:30 p.m., he said.

When the officer arrived, he slipped to his knees and was approached by a man who loomed over him wielding a hammer "in a threatening manner," Mitchell said.

The officer fired his gun in response, but it was unclear whether the man was struck, Mitchell said.

A second officer arrived on the scene and deployed his Taser, he said.

Tasers use an electric shock to stop people perceived as threats, but Mitchell said the man retreated into his apartment.

The McMahan Fire Department has appointed a new chief.

Joe Johnson was sworn in as the new chief at a board meeting Thursday night.

Johnson has been serving as interim chief since October.

His appointment comes in the wake of disciplinary charges filed against former chief Paul Barth, who was suspended in November and retired last month.

Barth is accused of using at least $18,000 meant for charity to pay off a fire district credit card -- including charges for personal expenses.

Johnson said new accounting and budgeting procedures have already been put in place.

He said he hopes to rebuild the department's reputation and regain the trust from the community.

The city of Louisville plans to appeal to the state Supreme Court after a lower court refused to hear arguments over a ruling that it must give a group of about 140 retired Louisville firefighters back pay for miscalculated overtime, a mayoral spokesman said.

The plaintiffs are separate from a group of 834 former and current firefighters who reached a $45 million settlement with the city in November and received the first of three payments in December.

On Friday, the Kentucky Court of Appeals denied a motion from metro government to rehear arguments in the smaller group's lawsuit, which seeks back pay for a 15-year period. The same court previously had ruled that the miscalculation in overtime violated the firefighters' contract.

Ann Oldfather, who represents the smaller group, said her clients, who are retirees, rejected the city's settlement offer last fall because they would have gotten only a fraction of what they were owed.

She said that based on the court's ruling, her clients are entitled to about $15 million and are earning interest "in excess of $5,000 a day" while the dispute lingers.

Louisville Metro police have identified the man they suspect shot a gas-station clerk during a robbery early Monday morning, then shot himself in a Lyndon apartment complex.

Deputy Jefferson County coroner Sam Weakley said Rickey J. Watson, 53, died of a gunshot wound as the result of an apparent suicide, although an autopsy will be performed Tuesday.

Watson's body was found in Millgate Apartments, 1704 Millgate Road, after police knocked on his door around 8 a.m. Monday while searching for the man who had shot a clerk hours earlier at the Circle K on LaGrange Road

Detectives heard a gunshot from inside the apartment and called for the SWAT team to come to the scene around 9 a.m., said Dwight Mitchell, a spokesman for Louisville Metro Police.

About 11:15 a.m., SWAT officers entered the apartment and found a man dead inside.

No officers fired their weapons during the incident, Mitchell said.

Police believe Watson was the man who committed the robbery and shooting earlier Monday at the Circle K, but investigators were still working on the case to confirm that, Mitchell said.

A Fern Creek man who held police and SWAT team officers at bay for 3 ½-hours Saturday was charged with murder in the shooting death of his step-father, police said.

Todd Kaelin, 38, was arrested after surrendering at 10:22 a.m. at his home in the 6700 Block of El Rancho Road.

"It appears to be some kind of domestic dispute, but we don't know exactly what it was over," said Dwight Mitchell, a Metro Police Department spokesman.

The name of the victim, who was taken to University Hospital, was not immediately available.

The incident began when police responded to a report at 6:50 a.m. of a shooting at the home on a quiet residential street off Seatonville Road.

"While there, officers heard another shot from inside the house," Mitchell said. "Officers secured the perimeter and called in the SWAT team, which arrived between 8 and 8:30."

A woman in her 70s, who has not been identified but was unharmed, was allowed to leave the house about 9:20 a.m., Mitchell said. A fourth person, identified by Mitchell as the woman's grandson, was in the house at the time of the initial shooting but escaped before police arrived.