The man shot dead by a city policeman in Oakland had a history of creating neighborhood disturbances, his landlord said yesterday.

"A lot of times it happened at the end of the month. When he needs his medicine, he's crazy," the landlord, Chong Won Kim, 56, said in an interview.

An officer shot his longtime tenant, Nang T. Nguyen, after Mr. Nguyen armed himself with a meat cleaver Friday afternoon and threatened Mr. Kim. A policeman confronted Mr. Nguyen as he continued to hold the meat cleaver at the busy corner of Atwood and Bates streets.

After a loud, tense confrontation that lasted at least several seconds, Mr. Nguyen refused to drop the meat cleaver, Mr. Kim said. The policeman then felled Mr. Nguyen with one shot. The Allegheny County medical examiner yesterday said he died of a chest wound.

Mr. Kim said he knew Mr. Nguyen for 15 years. Mr. Nguyen rented an apartment from him most of that time, but would occasionally find a bargain elsewhere and move for a short while.

Frail, unemployed and often broke, Mr. Nguyen spent most of his time watching television in his apartment above Mr. Kim's grocery at 366 Atwood St.

Mr. Nguyen, who made his rent payments with the help of public assistance, usually was friendly enough, but he could become loud and cause disturbances, Mr. Kim said. These episodes led to calls to the police on numerous occasions.

"Usually the police would come and take him to the hospital," Mr. Kim said. "Some police even knew him. They came that much."

Until Friday, Mr. Nguyen had never carried a weapon or threatened anybody, the landlord said.

Mr. Kim said he was in his grocery before 3 p.m. when Mr. Nguyen came down from his third-floor apartment, mumbling and carrying the meat cleaver. Mr. Nguyen, even at 5 feet 2 and 110 pounds, had a vacant look and seemed dangerous with the meat cleaver in his hand, Mr. Kim said.

Frightened, Mr. Kim ran out the back door of his store and called 911. He said the policeman who responded found Mr. Nguyen on the street, holding the meat cleaver at eye level.

Mr. Kim said the policeman did not immediately draw his firearm. Instead, he screamed at Mr. Nguyen to drop the meat cleaver. After two or three of his commands were ignored, the officer pulled his handgun, Mr. Kim said.

Mr. Nguyen, talking to himself, continued to ignore the officer's order that he drop the weapon. They were perhaps five feet apart when the officer fired the fatal shot, Mr. Kim said.

Police Chief Nathan Harper called the shooting justified, saying Mr. Nguyen had started to "aggressively approach the officer."

He would not identify the officer involved, but other policemen said it was Eric Tatusko,

Officer Tatusko, 39, made news once before, when a Hill District woman accused him of pointing a gun at her children during a traffic stop in 2006.

Officer Tatusko, though, said the woman was uncooperative after he pulled her over for a series of violations. He said he drew his firearm because he could not see through the tinted windows of her SUV.

In court last September, Common Pleas Judge Anthony Mariani found the woman guilty of driving her vehicle without valid inspection and emission stickers; refusing to surrender her license plate; and failing to secure her 7-year-old daughter in a child-restraint seat. He acquitted her of disorderly conduct.

As for Mr. Nguyen, he had been in an especially bad way recently, and may have become unhinged because of health and financial problems, Mr. Kim said.

He said Mr. Nguyen needed medicine and had accumulated debt from credit card purchases. An unopened credit card bill for Mr. Nguyen sat on the counter of Mr. Kim's grocery yesterday.

Mr. Kim said Mr. Nguyen also had claimed he was mugged recently.

"He had a cut on his forehead, and he was upset," Mr. Kim said. "He said he got robbed on the street. Lots of times, the things he told me were lies, so I don't know."

Still, Mr. Kim might have been one of the few people that Mr. Nguyen could turn to.

"Sometimes, he'd say he needed a few bucks and I would loan it to him. He would always pay me back."