Graphic Cell Phone Video Shows St. Louis Police Shooting Knife-Wielding Man

Graphic Cell Phone Video Shows St. Louis Police Shooting Knife-Wielding Man (Mediaite)

In the name of transparency following the outrage over the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Missouri police officer last week, St. Louis police have put out cell phone video that shows two officers shooting and killing a man who approached them brandishing a knife and yelling “Shoot me!”

Police identified the man as 25-year-old Kajieme Powell, who was suspected of stealing from a nearby convenience store. Officers arrived on the scene after receiving two separate 911 calls reporting Powell’s erratic behavior. The two officer fired a combined 12 shots at Powell, killing him instantly, after he refused to drop the steak knife he was holding and continued moving towards them.

“I don’t think any of us can deny that the tension not only in St. Louis but around the county and the world because of the activities in Ferguson over the last 10 or 12 days certainly has led to us making sure that we got this right and answered as many questions as we could as quickly as we can,” St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson told St. Louis Public Radio about his decision to quickly release the video below along with surveillance footage and audio of the 911 calls.