The Larimer County Coroner’s Office identified on Tuesday the man killed by an officer in a shooting incident about 8 p.m. Monday at the Pizza Ranch in Loveland.

William Rippley of Loveland died from a gunshot wound to the abdomen, and the manner of death was listed as a homicide, coroner’s officials said.

Loveland police officer Jennifer Hines, of the patrol division, was identified by the department Tuesday as the officer who shot and killed Rippley, a 45-year-old white man.

Rippley was reportedly wielding at least one knife and threatening a customer at the Pizza Ranch, 3451 Mountain Lion Drive.

The man had reportedly been “throwing his bicycle” at westbound traffic from the roadway median on Eisenhower Boulevard before running from officers to the Pizza Ranch.

Hines, a 10-year veteran of the department, has been placed on paid administrative leave, along with officers Jay Smith and Greg Harris, who were at the scene of the shooting, according to a Loveland Police Department press release, “to maintain the integrity of the investigation.” Hines was the only one to fire a weapon.

Loveland Police Department Sgt. Justin Chase said while officers carry less-lethal weapons, “for officers to use less-lethal weapons when deadly force is used against them is not what we recommend,” especially in what he called a “rapidly-evolving situation.”

“When we can, we try to employ — if it’s appropriate — less-lethal, but a lot of times it’s not,” Chase said.

In the instance of a suspect carrying a knife, he said hand-to-hand fighting would not be reasonable.

And in the case of a person holding a hostage, Chase said there’s no specific protocol about when to shoot, but officers must take extra precautions in those cases to protect the hostage.

“You have to be very conscious of that,” he said. “You can’t miss.”

The incident is being investigated by the Loveland Police Department, the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office, the Larimer County Coroner’s Office and the 8th Judicial District Attorney, as is protocol in officer-involved shootings, Chase said.

“Given the tens of thousand of interactions between law enforcement and the public in our county every year, reality tells us that on rare occasions, officers may have to use deadly force. However, we don’t take that decision lightly,” Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith wrote Tuesday on Facebook.

“We at the LCSO will support the Loveland Police Department through this challenging time and equally as importantly, we support the goal of conducting an objective investigation into the incident.”

This wasn’t Rippley’s first run-in with Loveland police and Officer Hines. On July 29, he was arrested about 20 blocks west of Pizza Ranch, in the 1400 block of East Eisenhower Boulevard, by Hines on suspicion of felony menacing where he was contacted on a weapons complaint.

On June 27, he was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor harassment by another officer, and he had also faced allegations of a misdemeanor of obstructing a peace officer from another incident.

Saja Hindi: 970-669-5050 ext. 521, hindis@reporter-herald.com, twitter.com/SajaHindiRH.