The Athens-Clarke County Police Department has released the body camera footage of the October 25thth officer-involved shooting on Royale Road. Link to video.
The incident resulted in the death of Athens resident Nan Zhao. During a media conference Chief Cleveland Spruill said what started as a routine complaint escalated quickly.
“Sgt. Matt Smith and Officer Paul Harris were investigating a noise complaint in the 100 block of Royale Road, however when the officers spoke with the reporting party, he told the officers that a neighbor had threatened to shoot him,” Spruill said. “This changed the nature of the investigation from a simple misdemeanor noise complaint to a felony terroristic threats.”
The footage showed 45-year old Nan Zhao ignoring the officers’ commands to show his hands.
He then fired at the officers, who returned fire, striking Zhou. He fled a short distance away and after backup arrived, officers found him and performed first aid.
Zhou did admit to firing his weapon while speaking with officers on the scene. He later died at an area hospital.
While Spruill called such shootings a failure because his goal to avoid deadly confrontations, he did say deadly force is sometimes the only option.
“But I can tell you that with all the training in the world, if my officer attempts to stop someone, not just my officer, any officer, attempts to stop a person when there are investigating him for an alleged threat to shoot somebody and you take a gun out and shoot it, you can expect that those officers are going to respond with deadly force to protect themselves.”
The chief said mental health issues and substance abuse seem to be underlying factors in many of these type incidents.
Link to video.