The Seattle Police Department released video from an incident last week when a cop shot a 39-year-old man.Â
A spokesperson for SPD did not provide an update on the man’s medical condition and declined to release the names of the officers involved.Â
A spokesperson for the Harborview Medical Center, where the man was transported after the shooting, also could not provide an update on the man’s condition. The spokesperson initially said he was in critical condition with a gunshot wound to his stomach and hand.
The shooting occurred a little before 8 am on July 18 around First Avenue and Spring. That’s where cops tracked the man they suspected of committing a reported stabbing at Second Avenue and Cherry.Â
In the video, SPD plays audio of a few 911 callers reporting the stabbing, describing the suspect as a white man in a black jacket wearing blue jeans and carrying a rolling bag.
The video is cut together out of chronological order, but it appears as if Officer Kame Spencer, who is a canine handler for SPD, arrived on scene first. She apparently sees a man in a black jacket and jeans carrying a rolling bag and orders him to get on the ground. The man continues to walk up Spring Street toward Second Avenue. Spencer yells, “I will send the fucking dog on you.” The man says he will not get on the ground, calls the police terrorists, and threatens to kill her, but continues walking away.Â
Another cop arrives on scene and appears to pull out their Bolawrap device, which is meant to release a kevlar cord to wrap around a person’s arms or legs. The audio dubbing on the video says the man yells at the officers to shoot him.
The last cop to confront the man appears to arrive, step out of his car, and yell for the man to get on the ground. The man appears to move toward the other two cops, at which point the second officer to arrive uses his Bolawrap, which makes a sound similar to a gunshot, but within a split second the final cop on scene fires two shots at the man and the man falls to the ground.Â
As the man lays on the concrete, apparently wounded, the cop continues to yell for him to get on the ground. The cop did not warn the man he planned to shoot, which SPD’s use of force policy encourages, when “feasible.”
Additional video from a witness captures the scene from higher up on Spring Street. The video concludes with a still image of a three-and-a-half-inch blade the man appears to drop in the video.Â
The Seattle Police Force Investigation Team is investigating the shooting.Â