Sandy MaloneOxnard, CA –Bodycam video released on Thursday showed a police officer shooting a teenage girl who was running at him while armed with a large knife (video below).
The incident occurred on the morning of May 3 after police responded to a call about a woman brandishing a knife near the Carl’s Jr. in the 400-block of North Rose Avenue, according to a statement released by the Oxnard Police Department.
Dispatch received three more calls about the woman saying her behavior had escalated and she was threatening people before Oxnard Police Officer Timothy Roberts arrived on the scene.
The video showed Officer Roberts found the suspect – a 17-year-old girl – in the dirt lot behind the fast food restaurant and engaged her in conversation.
He told her he’d received calls that she had a knife, and she lifted her shirt exposing the handle of the knife and reached as if to take it out of her pocket.
In the video, Officer Roberts told the girl not to reach for the knife.
“Why, what happens if I reach for it?” the girl asked him.
“Then something bad is going to happen,” Officer Roberts told her in the video.
The girl pulled the 12-inch kitchen knife out of her pocket and held it.
Then she started walking very deliberately at the officer.
The officer walked backwards, away from the suspect, as he radioed dispatch, asked for backup to be expedited, and explained what was happening at the scene.
“Go on, shoot me,” the girl told Officer Roberts in the video. “I’ve been waiting all day.”
In the video, Officer Roberts ordered the girl to stop multiple times, but she continued to walk at him. He also commanded the suspect to drop the knife multiple times.
“I’ve been waiting, come on,” the girl goaded the officer as she marched toward him with the knife in her left hand.
“Drop it,” the officer ordered her.
“I’m not,” she replied.
“Drop it,” the officer told her again.
“No,” she calmly replied.
She continued to stalk the officer across the parking lot, brandishing the knife, as he walked backwards away from her, the video showed.
She stopped and hesitated for a few seconds, then suddenly lunged and made a run directly at the officer.
He told her again to drop the knife, and when she got within 20 feet of him, he opened fired on her.
Officer Roberts fired three shots, the video showed.
The suspect dropped to the ground, writhing in pain.
Officer Roberts’ backup had arrived just a minute before the shooting.
He was in the process of getting out a less-lethal weapon when the suspect took a run at Officer Roberts, ABC News reported.
Officer Roberts handcuffed the girl and then began performing first aid with the help of the second officer.
The girl apologized to the police officers as they worked to save her, the video showed.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”
The officers spoke kindly to the girl as EMS responded and loaded her onto a stretcher for transport to the hospital.
She remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition, according to the Oxnard police statement.
Investigators later determined that the 911 calls reporting the knife-wielding woman to the authorities had been made from the cell phone that the suspect was carrying when she was arrested.
Officer Roberts was placed on paid administrative leave as is protocol for all officer-involved shootings.
You can see the knife-wielding teen rush the officer in the video below. WARNING – Graphic Content: