By Joanna Putman
Police1
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma City Police recently released body camera footage showing an officer-involved shooting that occurred after a woman approached officers while pretending to have a gun in her hand, KOHK reported.
The May 5 incident began when police responded to a report of a domestic shooting where a woman reportedly shot a man in the chest, according to the report.
Video shows the first responding officer was handed a gun by the victim, which he had managed to retrieve from the woman. As police attempted to coax the woman out of the home, she indicated she was armed and threatened the officers.
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“When she exited the home she had a sweater covering her right hand and pointed her right arm at the officers,” said Capt. Valerie Littlejohn of OKCPD. Despite multiple commands to drop what officers believed was a weapon, the woman refused, prompting an officer to discharge his firearm. The woman was not struck by the shot.
The situation escalated when the woman began approaching an officer aggressively, mimicking a shooter’s stance.
"[The woman] then turned and began aggressively approaching [the officer] while raising her covered hand and getting into a two-handed shooter stance,” Littlejohn explained.
The officer fired another shot at the woman, who again avoided being struck.
Moments later, it was confirmed that the woman did not have a gun under the sweater. Another officer then successfully deployed a TASER, and the woman was taken into custody without further incident.
She was subsequently charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and booked into the Oklahoma County Detention Center, according to the report. The man who was initially shot received medical treatment at a local hospital for his injuries. The officer involved in the shooting has been placed on routine administrative leave pending the results of an ongoing investigation into the incident.
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