Police in suburban St. Louis fatally shot a man who reportedly charged at them with a knife on Friday night, officials say.
The Associated Press reports that a Jennings, Mo. woman contacted the St. Louis County Police Department because her son was behaving erratically and refused to leave her home:
She said he wasn't behaving normally and was talking about going on a journey and a mission and mentioned a black revolution, police said.
Officers arrived to find Thaddeus McCarroll, 23, walking through the home carrying a Samurai sword and several knives. Following roughly an hour of negotiation, McCarroll finally exited his mother's home holding a Bible and a knife. Despite the orders of police, he reportedly continued to move towards them.
After what the Associated Press described as a "less lethal round" was fired at McCarroll to no avail, he charged at police with the knife, authorities say. Officers opened fire, and McCarroll died at the scene after being struck by several bullets.
According to USA Today, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar released a statement yesterday, describing the incident as an all-around tragedy:
My officers took every precaution to safely resolve this situation, starting with over an hour-long attempt at negotiations with the subject, Belmar said. The officers resorted to less lethal force to try and bring the incident to a safe conclusion with no loss of life, but this individual made the decision to refuse these attempts, and charge at officers with a deadly weapon.
Body camera footage of the encounter was uploaded to the St. Louis County police's YouTube page yesterday.
[via Associated Press and USA Today]
