Sandy MaloneSilver Spring, MD – The Maryland Attorney General’s Office released bodycam video of an officer-involved shooting last month that left a Silver Spring man dead (video below).
The incident began at about 4:25 a.m. on Dec. 29, 2021 when an off-duty Montgomery County police officer was alerted to a shooting in the 900-block of Bonifant Street, WTOP reported.
Montgomery County police said the off-duty officer relayed the information to a dispatcher and on-duty officers responded to the scene.
Four minutes later, an on-duty officer who was conducting a separate traffic stop saw the suspect vehicle race past him, according to the police department.
Montgomery County Police Officer Nathan Lenhart, an eight-year veteran of the police force, jumped into his police cruiser and conducted a traffic stop on the white Mercedes near Wayne and Dartmouth Avenues, dashcam and bodycam video showed.
The video showed that the Mercedes pulled over shortly after Officer Lenhart turned on his police lights behind him.
Officer Lenhart waited inside his vehicle until backup arrived and then video showed he used his public address system to order the driver to turn off his car.
The officer ordered the driver three times to put both hands in the air out the car window before the driver finally complied, the video showed.
The passenger also stuck his hands out the window without being told to do so.
The officer commanded the driver to reach out his window and opened his car door from the outside, the video showed.
But when the driver began to comply with that order, the passenger door suddenly whipped open.
“Ah! Stay in the car!” the officer yelled in the video.
But the passenger – later identified as 27-year-old Osman Sesay – jumped out of the car facing the police with a gun in his hand and immediately opened fire.
Four Montgomery County police officers returned fire.
Police said Sesay was killed in the exchange of gunfire, WTOP reported.
The video showed officers recovered Sesay’s handgun on the ground in front of the Mercedes, not far from where he fell to the sidewalk when he was shot.
Police have identified Montgomery County Police Officers Lenhart, Karli Dorsey, Dennis Tejada, and Eric Kessler as the law enforcement officers who discharged their weapons at Sesay, WMAR reported.
All four officers have been placed on paid administrative leave while the incident is investigated as is protocol for all officer-involved shootings.
The Maryland Independent Investigations Division of the Office of the Attorney General is heading up the investigation into the officer-involved shooting, WTTG reported.
Watch the incident unfold in the video below. WARNING – Graphic Content:
NEW: The Maryland Office of the Attorney General just released dash cam and body cam video of the Dec. 29, 2021, officer-involved shooting on Wayne Avenue in Silver Spring.
Police say 27yo Osman Sesay exited the car with a gun pointed at officers.
Viewer discretion is advised. pic.twitter.com/zBQEj5MMhJ
— Kevin Lewis (@KevinLewis7News) January 12, 2022
Holly Matkin
