Associated Press
TOLEDO, Ohio — A police department has released a dashcam video that shows two officers fatally shooting an armed man who appeared to be walking away and within seconds of the officers confronting him.
The two veteran SWAT officers had been detailed Friday afternoon to find 25-year-old Lamar Richardson, who had been identified as a suspect in a string of armed robberies over the last month, Toledo police said.
Police Chief George Kral narrated the unedited video shown to the media Friday night and pointed out that Richardson, of Toledo, had pulled a handgun from his waistband and then faced the officers. The video then shows Richardson, gun in hand, turning and taking a few steps before being shot. One of the officers can be seen kicking the gun away afterward.
Other officers had pursued Richardson in a stolen car earlier Friday before the SWAT officers spotted him on a bicycle around 5:30 p.m. One SWAT officer chased Richardson on foot while the other pursued him in a police SUV. He was shot about a minute later.
The audio portion of the dashcam video indicates at least six rounds were fired. The officers’ names have not been released.
The shooting prompted several hundred people to protest. The Toledo Blade reported that people pushed against police tape separating them from a line of about 20 officers who had been called in for reinforcement.
Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz held a news conference Friday night with community leaders and City Council members, with whom he had met beforehand. He said the city released the video for the sake of transparency and to quell rumors that the person who was shot was 16, that he was on his knees with his hands in the air and that he was running away from the officers.
“Today was a terrible day for Toledo,” Kapszukiewicz said. “Any time a human life is lost, that’s a tragedy.”