ST PAUL, Minn. — The St. Paul Police Department released body camera video from the officers involved a deadly shooting earlier this week.
The three officers were responding to reports of a suicide in progress at a home in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood Monday evening. When the officers arrived, they can be heard in the video announcing themselves before walking through the home and finding two people sitting on the floor of a bedroom. One of the officers can be heard asking, "What's going on? What's going on?"
One of the people sitting on the floor responds, "she was turning blue in her mouth and she wasn't breathing." The officers then asked if the woman was OK, and she can be heard saying, "I'm OK." The other person is then heard telling officers, "she's not OK."
The woman then reaches under a blanket and pulls out a handgun. As she's raising the gun, officers can be heard yelling before several shots are fired.
The edited body camera footage, which contains graphic content, can be viewed on the St. Paul Police Department's YouTube page here.
BELOW: St. Paul Chief Axel Henry speaks to reporters after the release of the body camera footage:
According to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), the officers attempted to provide life-saving care, but she died at the scene.
Earlier Friday, the BCA identified the three officers who fired their weapons as:
• Chiking Chazonkhueze, who has 3.5 years of law enforcement experience.
• Chee Lao, who has three months of law enforcement experience.
• Yengkong Lor, who has three years of law enforcement experience.
"This illustrates how important it is that we — as both a nation and also as a city — really look at how we deal with folks in crisis," said St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry during a press conference Friday. "It escalated very quickly. I'm struck by the fact that we went from a situation where I watched the video, seeing an officer leaned over a person, being very empathetic and asking, 'How are you? Are you OK? How can I help?' and seeing how quickly things can change."
Chief Henry says the department has a unit called the Community Outreach and Stabilization Team (COAST) that do a lot of work with mental health and chemical addiction. According to Chief Henry, they have five staff members in the COAST unit, but it's not big enough to staff 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As a result, Chief Henry says all SPPD employees are required to attend trainings.
St. Paul Community Activist Trahern Crews says there should be someone available at all times.
"When there's a mental health crisis, mental health professionals should respond to those crises," Crews said. "I think mental health is a 24/7 issue in the City of St. Paul, and there needs to be a 24/7 response."
"We're not here to point the finger at anyone or anybody," Crews continued. "But we think that we need to reimagine the processes and procedures to respond to the mental health crisis in the City of St. Paul.
If you or someone you know is facing a mental health crisis, there is help available from the following resources:
- Crisis Text Line – text “MN” to 741741 (standard data and text rates apply)
- Crisis Phone Number in your Minnesota county
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988, Talk to Someone Now
- Throughout Minnesota call **CRISIS (**274747)
- The Trevor Project at 866-488-7386
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