By Police1 Staff
SAND SPRINGS, Okla. — Police have released new footage of a fatal shooting involving two officers who were threatened by an armed mentally ill man.
The department had previously released body camera video from another officer on the scene, but was unable to release footage of the actual shooting due to a camera malfunction, according to Tulsa World.
In the interest of transparency, officials sought out the help of a computer forensics expert, who was able to recover the new footage of the April 11 incident.
“He made the decision he had to make. Don’t ever confuse that with a decision that we want to make,” Deputy Chief of Police Mike Carter said at a news conference.
Officers responded to the scene after receiving a call from a neighbor that 66-year-old Donald W. Allen was firing a weapon into the air in his backyard.
The reported paranoid schizophrenic, who had had prior run-ins with police, threatened to kill the officers if they did not leave his property.
Armed with a .22-caliber pistol, Allen approached 25-year-old Officer Brian Barnett and pointed the weapon at the officer, leading the officer to open fire.
Attempts were made to revive the suspect at the scene, but were unsuccessful.