Fort Worth police release video of officer shooting woman with knife
FORT WORTH, Texas - Fort Worth police released body camera video of an officer shooting a woman with a knife on Monday night.
Police said the incident happened at an apartment complex in east Fort Worth, near Loop 820 and I-30.
Officers responded to a call for a suicidal woman at 11:30 p.m. on May 22.
A woman, identified as Kaitlyn Balogun, told dispatch she was bleeding out and that she wanted to harm herself.
At first no one answered the door.
But after a second knock, Balogun opened the door.
Body camera video shows when officers went inside, the 20-year-old woman ran back into her apartment and grabbed a knife lying on the carpet.
Balogun ran back into her apartment and grabbed a knife lying on the carpet.
Fort Worth police said the officer pulled out her firearm as Balogun advanced toward her holding the knife yelling "shoot me."
"I don't want to shoot you, drop the knife, I don't want to shoot you!" you can hear the officer say.
Fort Worth officer shoots woman armed with knife
Police said they got a call about a suicidal woman. When officers arrived, she allegedly threatened them with a knife.
According to Fort Worth PD, Balogun had the knife in a tight grip pointed at the officer, but the officer was at the edge of the staircase with no room to retreat further.
Police said the officer perceived a deadly threat, fired her weapon, striking Balogun once in the hip. She was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
She is now charged aggravated assault against a public servant.
A second officer arrived on scene as the single shot was fired. No officers were injured.
Thursday, Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes stressed the importance of his department’s mental health crisis intervention team, which was created in 2017.
Monday night, the responding officer wasn’t part of this specialized team, but has de-escalation training.
"It was important to try to get to the apartment and render aid. This was the first officer on scene to provide that aid," he said.
The crisis intervention team was not on duty at the time of the call.
Chief Noakes said the department’s crisis intervention team is increasing in staff year after year.
Right now, they are at 23 positions in that unit. He’s hoping to work with the city to expand the unit to be available 24/7.
"We are in talks with city leaders who understand the necessity and importance of this team to make sure we have 24/7, 365 coverage where CIT is on duty all times," he added.