By Police1 Staff
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — An Illinois sheriff’s office released body cam footage of officers shooting a college student who pointed a pellet gun at them.
On July 12, officers received a call about a man with a gun near the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana campus, WLS-TV reported. When police arrived, they encountered 23-year-old Sam Applebaum, who appeared to be armed.
Officer can be heard on video telling the student to drop his weapon several times, which he ignores. Police said Applebaum then pointed the weapon at officers, which isn’t seen on the video, prompting officers to shoot and wound the student.
The LEOs then rushed to render first aid on Applebaum as he laid face down with a gunshot wound to his leg. Officers later determined that the weapon Applebaum was carrying was a pellet gun, according to WGN-TV.
Police said Applebaum was the one who initially called police to the scene. He allegedly made a false report about a man with a semi-automatic weapon in a residential area near the campus.
A voice presumed to be Applebaum’s can be heard on video telling officers a possible motive behind the false police report.
“I was just trying to f****** kill myself,” the voice said.
Champaign County Sheriff Dan Walsh praised the officers’ response, including immediately rendering first aid to the wounded man.
“These are the things they’re trained to do and these guys all had the presence of mind in a very tense situation to do what we want them to do,” Walsh said.
Applebaum was charged with disorderly conduct for placing the false 911 call.