By Kaley Johnson
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
FORT WORTH, Texas — Fort Worth police released body camera footage of the fatal shooting of an armed man who they say held multiple people hostage in an apartment on July 18.
Markevvion Devonte Cannon, 19, shot at officers while holding a 12-year-old girl, a 15-year-old boy and a 19-year-old woman hostage at 2900 Broadmoor Drive, police said. Officers responded to a call from the apartment building and got into a standoff with Cannon, who had gone to the apartment to see his ex-girlfriend and infant child.
Body cam footage released Wednesday shows the following from multiple officers’ perspectives:
Several officers are seen walking into the apartment complex hallway, where a woman is running toward police. The woman tells police that Cannon is inside the apartment and has a gun. She said she was inside when he burst in and told everyone to get down.
Police knock on the door and yell for Cannon to come outside. The video cuts to black and says only audio is being shared from this portion of the body cam footage due to public information restrictions.
A man’s voice can be heard yelling, “This is not a game! Keep playing!”
An officer says, “He’s pointing a gun.” Text on the screen of the video says at that time, police retrieved ballistic protection such as shields, helmets and additional body armor.
The video continues and a gunshot is heard. Officers say, “Shots fired. Shots fired,” and one of them says Cannon shot an officer’s shield. More shots ring out.
One officer yells through the door, “Markevvion, let them go!” Another shot is fired from inside the apartment.
The body cam footage from another officer shows the officer in the parking lot, where he is telling people to leave the building. A shot is fired at the officer, and police say later in the video Cannon was shooting at him from the third-floor apartment. A bullet hits the windshield of the officer’s car, according to text on the screen of the video.
The officer gets on the radio and says he is pinned down, and the person is shooting at the patrol car.
A graphic in the video shows the angle from the third-floor apartment where police say Cannon was shooting from.
The video ends with several photos of bullet holes in an officer’s car and a building near the pool at the apartment complex.
SWAT officers went into the apartment and found Cannon in the master bedroom closet with the hostages, the Fort Worth Police Department said in a press release. Cannon did not listen to officers’ orders and raised his gun. One Fort Worth SWAT officer, a nine-year veteran, fired one shot that hit Cannon, police said in the release.
Cannon was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead of a gunshot wound to the head.
No hostages or police officers were injured. Police have said Cannon used a child like a shield at one point during the hostage situation.
Cannon had active warrants out for continuous violence against family, violating a protection order and bringing prohibited substances and items into a correctional facility, according to Tarrant County online court records.
He had been accused of assaulting his ex-girlfriend who lived in the Broadmoor apartment in May. The warrant also included an emergency protective order request to prevent Cannon from further contacting his ex-girlfriend, police said.
He had previously been charged with two counts of assault and two counts of evading arrest.
The officer who shot Cannon was placed on administrative leave, which is standard protocol.
“We are providing this available body camera footage in order to provide perspective and transparency, while the majority of media outlets wait for formal open records requests to be fulfilled,” the department said in a news release Wednesday. “In order to comply with public information rules, one portion of this release is audio only as it includes the interior of the residence, as well as several juveniles. The video provided is edited in the interest of time with the goal being to offer relevant information in a timely manner.“
©2019 the Fort Worth Star-Telegram