A police officer in the United States fatally shot a man who was holding a marker pen, which the cop mistakenly believed was a knife.
The Denver Police Department on Monday released a graphic body camera footage of the incident which took place on August 5. The clip shows an officer firing two shots at Brandon Cole, 36, as he ran towards the cop holding a marker, not a knife, authorities confirmed.
"This is a tremendous tragedy," Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said about the shooting, which is still being investigated, CBS News reported.
According to CNN, the Denver police received a 911 call from someone reporting a domestic violence incident involving Mr Cole, his wife and his teenage son. The neighbour reported that the woman may have been pushed out of her wheelchair and that Mr Cole was "going after" his son.
The clip shows a woman sitting on the street next to a wheelchair, shouting: "Don't, don't pull your gun out on my husband, please". Mr Cole seems agitated as he says "Let's go" to the officer who calls to him using his first name. That officer even tries to hit the 36-year-old with a stun gun but fails.
Moments later, Mr Cole quickly moves around a parked car toward the other office, raising his hand to chest level. The cop fires two shots at him, thinking he is holding a knife. The video shows the black marker pen falling on the ground as he collapsed. Mr Cole was pronounced dead at a hospital.
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According to CBS News, the Denver police chief, Ron Thomas, called the shooting a "tremendous tragedy," but defended the officer's decision to fire two fatal shots.
"You can see in the video that when she finally deploys her duty weapon, the person is so close to her that the view of the young child and other person are not even clear to her. Certainly that was a consideration, but there was not much time to act before she was overrun by that individual," Mr Thomas said.
However, the police chief also added that the district attorney will review the legality of the shooting and decide if the officer should face any criminal charges.
