Police Officer Fatally Shoots Man, 28: Video Released

Chicago IL

20 October, 2021

1:08 PM

Description

CHICAGO — The Civilian Office of Police Accountability on Tuesday released body camera footage from the fatal shooting of a 28-year-old man by a police officer last month. According to police, Turrell Brown refused to drop a knife after officers responded to a domestic disturbance call at an apartment on the South Side Sept. 19. The video shows police walking into a second story apartment building in the 6500 block of South Harvard Avenue that morning. A 911 call released by the civilian review board indicates two officers responded to a call from a woman who said her boyfriend was armed with a knife and had hit her in the face. Body camera footage shows officers arrive at the building. The woman can be heard telling them her boyfriend struck her and "pulled a knife on me, too," telling police the man was still in the apartment and still had the knife. The footage shows officers moving through the apartment while Brown yells at them in the background. They fall back and take positions just outside the front door with their guns drawn. Brown then emerges from a room, appearing to wave a knife in his right hand while an officer yells at him to "put the knife down, put it down." Brown can be seen ducking behind a wall and then reemerging with his right hand empty. His left hand cannot be seen. In the footage, Brown takes a step towards the officers and extends his empty hand toward the front door, apparently to close it. An officer yells at him again to drop the knife — which at that point cannot be seen — and then fires three shots, hitting Brown. Following the shots, a knife appears to fall from the man's left hand. Later in the video, it can be seen lying beside Brown's foot as officers approach his body. The video cuts off about a minute after the shooting. Officers can be heard calling for EMS, but the video does not show them rendering aid to Brown as he lies bleeding on the floor. The civilian review board said they are still investigating the shooting, but acknowledged the officer gave Brown verbal commands to drop the knife. Two weeks after the fatal shooting, police shot and killed another man while responding to a domestic disturbance call. In that case, authorities also said the 61-year-old, later identified as Michael Craig, had a knife.