COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus Division of Police released body camera footage Monday showing an officer fatally shooting a man who was wielding a knife outside an apartment complex on the city’s east side last week.
During a press conference, police showed bodycam video of two offers arriving at Creekside Place Apartments on North Nelson Road on Feb. 22. They were called to the area on a report of a man, later identified as 26-year-old Colin Jennings, cutting himself and fighting the person who called 911.
A spokesperson from the Columbus Department of Public Safety said the 911 call came in from a man reporting that his boyfriend was attempting to harm himself with a knife.
Forty-five seconds into the call, the man then told the 911 dispatcher that his boyfriend was fighting with him trying to take the phone away. The caller later reported that his boyfriend was trying to attack him, refusing to let him leave and that he was trying to punch him in the throat.
A public safety official said the city's Right Response Unit or using clinicians to help de-escalate a mental health crisis was not possible because there were threats of violence within seconds.
As two officers arrive on the scene, bodycam footage shows them approaching the entrance of the building. Jennings then comes out and both officers are seen with guns in their hands.
One of the officers approaching Jennings is heard saying, “I’ve got lethal force.” He then yells, “drop the knife” to Jennings before telling the other officer, “get your taser out. Tase him. Tase him. Tase him.”
A police spokesperson said Jennings started approaching the officers with a large knife raised in his right hand and repeatedly yelling the phrases: “Shoot me. I want to die.”
The video shows officers telling Jennings to back up and drop the knife, but he continues to approach them.
One officer fired their gun three times, striking Jennings at least once, while the other officer deployed his stun gun. Officers rendered aid until medics took Jennings to Grant Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
According to the coroner's office, Jennings died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds.
No officers were injured in the shooting.
While police are not identifying the officers involved in the shooting because of Marsy's Law, the officers have been with the department for 13 and 14 years.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is handling the investigation into the shooting.