"Stop talking!" he screamed, according to witnesses. "Why won't everybody just stop talking!"

The wounded man, William Cobb, was shot outside his Salt Lake City apartment building early Friday morning by an officer who first ordered him at least three times to drop a wooden martial arts sword, witnesses said.

Cobb, 43, was taken to a local hospital in critical condition.

The shooting ended a violent ordeal that began in a first-floor hallway at the Cedar Pointe apartment complex, 731 S. 300 East, about 1:15 a.m.

Susie Van'tland said she was fed up with the noise coming from across the hallway, where Cobb, armed with an ancient samurai weapon known as a bokken, was apparently trying to pry open his apartment door and incessantly blathering "about nothing in particular."

Van'tland said she asked Cobb to be quiet. He allegedly responded by lifting the sword at her in a spearing motion.

Van'tland's fiancee, Hugh Flemister, then confronted his neighbor, only to be struck three times with the sword. A wrestling match ensued, followed quickly by the arrival of a Cedar Pointe security guard, whose presence apparently prompted Cobb to flee.

Minutes later, a woman on her way to pick up a pack of cigarettes at a nearby convenience store was confronted by the man. By this time, she said, he was "rambling on and screaming about Satan."

With sword in hand, Cobb allegedly chased the woman, who said she screamed for help as she fled.

She was able to escape when Cobb turned back toward his apartment. And that's where he met up with police officers who had responded to several residents' calls for help.

Neighbors said they heard screaming - including one voice threatening fatal violence - and then two gunshots. It was just after 2 a.m.

Salt Lake City police spokesman Kevin Joiner said two officers tried to give Cobb a chance to end the altercation without further violence.

"When we showed up out in front of the apartment complex, he had the club," Joiner said. "Officers told him to put it down. He charged aggressively and was shot."

The officer who shot Cobb, whom Joiner refused to identify, has been placed on administrative leave with pay pending the results of an investigation by the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office.

Flemister said he didn't know Cobb very well. Other neighbors said Cobb was quiet and generally kept to himself.

Recently, though, Cobb had placed a notice in the community laundry room to say he was selling off many of his possessions, including a blender, DVD player and couch. Flemister had made arrangements to buy the couch. "It's really all too bad," he said, "because I really wanted that couch."

mlaplante@sltrib.com