Bodycam Video Shows Cops Shoot At Knife-Wielding Man In Brooklyn

BROOKLYN, NY — The second police body-camera video released from Brooklyn this week shows the moment officers shot at a knife-wielding man inside an East Flatbush apartment earlier this year.

Officer Talha Ahmed shot three times at Tyrone Owens from a Hawthorne Street apartment hallway on Jan. 4 after Owens took out a knife and swung it at another officer inside, according to police and the video. Owens was not hit by the gunshots.

The encounter unfolded just before 8 p.m. after a woman, who was with her 1-year-old son, told 911 operators that she was being threatened by a man inside the apartment, found near Albany Avenue, according to police.

Minutes later, Ahmed and Officer Khaleef Allicott show up, and can be seen heading into the apartment to talk to the Owens, who is standing against a wall near the doorway.

Suddenly, Owens grabs a knife from his back waistband and lunges at Allicott, knocking him to the ground, according to the video.

Within just a few seconds, Ahmed, still in the hallway, takes out his gun and fires at Owens, who falls to the ground. Police said Owens had "raised the knife above his shoulder" and "advanced" in Ahmed's direction before he shot the gun.

"Shots fired, shots fired," Ahmed can be heard saying into his radio in the video.

Owens, who was taken to the hospital to be evaluated, was later charged with attempted murder, attempted assault, criminal possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a child, according to police.

The Jan. 4 encounter was among a string of police-involved shootings around the New Year.
In late December, a man who was roaming the streets in Brownsville with a machete was fatally shot when he charged at officers with the knife.

A day earlier, a few miles away in East Flatbush, police shot at an unarmed man after he charged at officers as they arrested another man on Lenox Road, according to NYPD officials.

Police also shot at a man on Christmas Eve who had opened fire on a group of officers in Crown Heights, one of whom was hit but survived thanks to his bullet-proof vest. Bodycamera video of that incident was also released this week.

The NYPD are required to release body camera footage within 30 days if an officer fires a gun under new rules put in place last year.