No where in the story does it say he was an Iraq war vet.
A person who knew him mentions he was home from the Army.
Another ventures a guess he "might" have been in Iraq or Afganistan and "might" have suffered from PTSD.
Let's not read more into this than there is. Let's wait, and see what other actual information comes out and not take peoples guesses as fact.
The article was very vague on how the police suspected the man as the cop killer.
Actually the article from the link says that is how neighbors described him.
I would say, if the above is true, it would indicate a 99.9% chance the gun was in his hand. I can't really imagine police arriving at the scene and asking the person themselves to remove a gun from a holster for the purpose of dropping it.
I was asked to hand my gun to an officer....I wisely refused.
More at the link.
http://www.oregonlive.com/clark-cou...oregon_guard_soldier_just_back_from_iraq.html
A 22-year-old man who was shot dead by Vancouver police this week was an Oregon Army National Guard soldier who recently had returned from a yearlong deployment to Iraq.
Spc. Nikkolas W. Lookabill was carrying a handgun, acting in a threatening manner and refusing to follow police orders when three officers fired at him early Tuesday, said Kim Kapp, a police spokeswoman. Vancouver police did not release more specifics about what spurred officers to open fire.