BY JOHN HOPKINS
The Cincinnati Enquirer

It was inconceivable to many attending a forum Monday that Lorenzo Collins, brandishing a brick, could be killed in a standoff with trained police.

Police confrontations ending in gunfire - particularly with the mentally ill - are happening too often in the city and they must stop, residents and community leaders demanded.

''We shall not rest, because this has happened too much in our community,'' said the Rev. Damon Lynch Jr., president of the Baptist Ministers Conference. ''I'm tired.''

The Rev. Mr. Lynch spoke during a public meeting in Evanston to address the Feb. 23 incident in Corryville. Mr. Collins was shot and died five days later at University Hospital. More than 200 people attended the meeting, which was called by the NAACP, with the support of the Baptist Ministers Conference.

Cincinnati Police Spc. Douglas Depodesta and University of Cincinnati Officer John E. Engel fired four shots, striking Mr. Collins three times.

Mr. Collins, being pursued after escaping from University Hospital's locked psychiatric floor, was sprayed with chemical irritant without effect, police said. He then allegedly advanced toward the officers with the brick in a fenced yard at 237 E. Rochelle St., police said.

The two officers fired.

The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth called the confrontation Rambo- style policing.

''I don't believe that there's anybody here tonight who is satisfied that a man lay dead because he had a brick in his hand,'' the Rev. Mr. Shuttlesworth said.

Milton Hinton, president of the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter, said, ''This is not an NAACP concern. ... This is a community concern. And this is not a black concern. This is a community concern.''

A march is scheduled for noon today at University Hospital, ending at the site of the shooting. There, a service will be held. The march is sponsored by the Baptist Ministers Conference.

Adam Weintraub contributed to this report.

Previous stories

FATAL SHOOTING CONCERNS COMMUNITYMarch 2, 1997

PROBE: POLICE FIRED FOUR SHOTS AT MAN WITH BRICK Feb. 25, 1997

MAN SHOT BY POLICE AFTER CHASE Feb. 24, 1997