Holly MatkinNashville, TN – The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) has released bodycam footage that captured the moment when a woman armed with a pickaxe and a baseball bat attempted to attack an officer (video below).
The incident began just after 5 p.m. on March 12, when MNPD received a report that a woman located in the 2800-block of Greer Road was making suicidal comments and saying she wanted to be shot by a SWAT team, MNPD spokesperson Don Aaron told WZTV.
Officers responded to the scene and made contact with 33-year-old Melissa Wooden, who was armed with a pick axe and a baseball bat, bodycam footage showed.
The officers tried to speak with the irate woman as she demanded that they shoot her “right now,” the video showed.
“Melissa, what is going on today?” one officer calmly asked her, before talking to her about whether or not she’d used alcohol or drugs that day.
Wooden told the officers they were going to need to go “hands-on” with her, and repeatedly told them to kill her, the video showed.
“Nobody is going to kill you. No one is going to harm you…At the end of the day, we just want to get you some help,” one of the officers said as they unsuccessfully tried to convince Wooden to set down at least one of her weapons.
“I’m not putting anything down until you f—king kill me,” she responded.
As the standoff ensued, a woman on a motorized scooter suddenly drove up and interjected herself into the melee.
“She’s mentally ill,” the woman told one of the officers.
“Put that s—t down!” she yelled at Wooden. “I’m gonna beat you up! Melissa! I’m not scared of her. Mellissa Lynn! Put that stuff down now!”
The suspect became more agitated and focused on suicide as the woman yelled at her, prompting the officer to again intervene.
“She’s taking a bunch of stuff, but she’s still crazy,” the woman told the officer. “She’s a good kid, she’s just all messed up in the head.”
As the officer stepped closer to Wooden, the woman on the scooter suddenly drove around him and drove up towards her.
The officer ordered the woman on the scooter to back away and threatened to pull the key out the vehicle to keep her from approaching Wooden, the video showed.
He then attempted to tase Wooden, who responded by raising the weapons over her shoulder and charging at the officer, the video showed.
Two gunshots rang out a second later and Wooden collapsed to the ground.
A nearby officer had fired his weapon in an effort to defend the officer who Wooden was trying to attack, according to police.
The officers moved in to handcuff the suspect as the clip ended.
Wooden was rushed to Vanderbilt Medical Center, where she was listed in stable condition, WZTV reported.
The MNPD and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation are handling the ongoing investigation into the officer-involved shooting.
The officers involved in the incident have been placed on administrative leave while the investigation is pending, as per protocol, WKRN reported.
Watch the incident unfold in the video below. Warning – Graphic Content and Obscene Language:
