Sandy MaloneCorvallis, OR – The Corvallis Police Department has released bodycam video that showed 32-year-old Jeffrey Appelt lunging at officers with a knife before he was fatally shot (video below).
The incident occurred just after 4 a.m. on April 3 at the Day’s Inn located on Northwest 9th Street in Corvallis, KOIN reported.
Officers responded to the hotel after employees reported a man aggressively trying to break into multiple rooms.
When police arrived at the Day’s Inn, the suspect came out of the motel with his his hands in his pockets.
“What’s going on?” the officer asked.
“Nothing,” Appelt replied. “Leave me the f—k alone.”
Then he turned and lunged at the officer with a knife in his hand yelling “Leave me alone. Leave me the f—k alone,” the video showed.
The officer repeatedly told Appelt to drop the knife as he ran away before he deployed his Taser.
But the Taser had little effect and the suspect walked away, KOIN reported.
Bodycam showed the officer called on the radio for additional help.
A second officer confronted Appelt and the suspect also went after him with the knife, too, KOIN reported.
But when a third officer arrived on the scene and Appelt rushed at him with a knife yelling “Do you want to die?”
And the officer opened fire and shot the knife-wielding suspect multiple times, KOIN reported.
“When Appelt came in close proximity to the officer, and his open patrol vehicle in which there was a loaded AR15- rifle and shotgun, the third officer fired his pistol,” Benton County prosecutors said in a statement.
Corvallis police said the officers rendered emergency medical aid to the suspect but Appelt was pronounced dead at the scene, according to KOIN.
Hotel guests expressed shock at what had happened in the parking lot, KEZI reported.
“I was just stunned. I couldn’t believe all this. There’s been some commotion going on before but nothing like this,” guest Gina Brewer said.
Another guest told KEZI that Appelt had tried to break into his hotel room.
“He tried all the rooms and then police said to drop the knife and all of a sudden I hear a boom,” guest Hans Bertel recalled.
Police found two knives at the scene, according to KEZI.
The Albany Police Department and the Benton County District Attorney’s Office will be investigating the officer-involved shooting.
The Corvallis Police Department officers who were involved in the incident have been placed on administrative leave as is protocol for all officer-involved shootings, KOIN reported.
Watch the incident unfold in the video below. WARNING – Graphic Content and Obscene Language:
Holly Matkin
