ARLINGTON, Va. — The Arlington County Police Department released body camera video showing a standoff with a barricaded suspect that culminated in a fatal officer-involved shooting.
The May 8 incident began when a 911 caller reported that a man had approached a woman outside of a convenience store and threatened to hit her.
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Body camera video shows an officer responding to the scene to find a man in heavy, reflective clothing standing outside the convenience store. The man ignored the officer’s orders to raise his hands.
The suspect walked toward the street as a second officer arrived at the scene.
“I got less lethal,” the first officer said. “It ain’t gonna work, but I got it.”
Officers again ordered the man to put his hands up, warning him that he would be tased if he did not comply.
“Man, f*** you,” the man said, before walking back to the convenience store and going inside.
More officers responded to the scene and ordered the man to exit the store using a PA system. The man did not comply.
As a crisis team negotiated with the suspect, a store employee who had been trapped in a bathroom exited to safety, allowing officers to enter through a rear door.
The suspect entered a storage area and set up a barricade.
Officers and negotiators attempted to communicate with the man inside the store. The man’s verbal responses were mostly unintelligible.
Body camera footage shows negotiators attempting to coax the man to come out of the storage room for nearly two hours.
Officers flew a drone into the storage area, revealing that the man had barricaded himself behind a second door.
Through a gap between a wall and a soda machine, an officer deployed less-lethal projectiles that released chemical irritants.
More than two and a half hours after the initial response, officers breached the door barricaded by the suspect. An officer continued to deploy less-lethal irritant projectiles into the room.
As the door opened, video shows the suspect moving toward officers while still holding a knife. The officers ordered him to drop the knife and deployed TASERs and less-lethal sponge rounds.
The less-lethal deployments were ineffective, and officers were forced to retreat into the store.
Video shows officers breaching the door a second time with a K-9 awaiting deployment. Officers used less-lethal, but the efforts were ineffective. The man raised the knife and moved toward the K-9 and handler, prompting officers to fire shots, striking the suspect.
Officers and EMS personnel rendered aid to the suspect. He was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The incident remains under investigation.
