TPD releases footage from fatal police shooting of woman with knife

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Toledo Police held a news conference Friday to answer questions and provide footage from this week’s incident on Vance Street in which officers fatally shot a woman who allegedly approached her children with a knife during a barricade situation.

You can watch it in full in the video at the end of this story. WARNING: Some may find the footage disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.

TPD identified the woman who died in the shooting as 26-year-old Erica Allen. Police say she assaulted her grandmother, barricaded herself and her children inside the home, tried to stab a police officer and repeatedly approached her children with a knife. Authorities say Allen was experiencing a mental health episode and posed a risk to her three children in house when she approached them with a knife.

911 calls show offers were called out to the home in the 1600 block of Vance on April 17 when Allen locked her grandmother out of the home, barricading herself and her kids inside. Dispatchers were told Allen was talking about “demonic things.” When officers arrive on the scene, Allen’s grandmother is bleeding from injuries to her head. A news release from TPD described her injuries as a stab wound to her face.

The grandmother told officers that Allen doesn’t have any diagnosed mental health issues, and while she struggled at times, she never had an episode like this. She was worried about her three great grandchildren, ages 10, 6, and 2-years-old.

Responding officers tried to talking to Allen through the front door. TPD got the door open slightly, saw she was still holding a knife, and the door was closed. When officers heard children screaming, they tried to force their way in the house.

As officers pushed the door open, body camera footage shows Allen swinging a knife at officers. Another officer then fired the shot, and the door closed again.

They continue trying to speak with Allen, pleading with her to talk to them and asking if anyone was hurt. She never responds to officers. They demand she drop the knife.

TPD crews broke a window out and tried to deploy a taser, but it didn’t work.

Officers are heard on the body camera footage yelling to the children to get to the back of the house while Allen was still behind the front door. Police were able to get inside the house and found the suspect and her kids were in the attic of the house. Authorities tried to negotiate with the woman, but it didn’t work.

The children are heard on the body camera footage banging and chanting “shake the devil off,” pleading with their mother.

“This is very abnormal behavior,” Police Chief Troendle said of the circumstances. “It’s leading the officers to believe the kids are more and more in harms way.”

Troendle said the SWAT officers who responded to the scene were coming from a training session and weren’t anticipating making any runs, so they didn’t have body cameras on them.

TPD says the SWAT teams opened the attic door enough to see all three children in the room with Allen. That’s when police say Allen started walking toward the kids with the knife and a SWAT officer shot her. She fell to the ground, got back up and continued going toward the children with the knife, and police shot her again.

Responders got the children out and they were not injured. Officers put Allen in handcuffs, who then allegedly grabbed a shard of glass and slashed an officer’s hand through her glove. First responders began providing medical attention at the scene and took her to an area hospital where she underwent surgery for her gunshot wounds. She later died. The coroner’s office said she suffered three gunshot wounds to the head, arm, and abdomen.

“Anytime a human life is lost, its a serious and traumatic event for a community,” said Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz. “But we do think the transparency of gathering together as quickly as possible to share what we know is a valuable exercise. Whatever has happened, we are better off as a community talking about it, understanding the facts as quickly as possible.”

The mayor said from his experience, this police shooting was unusual for several reasons, including the fact a knife was involved and there were children there.

“It makes it not only unusual, but even more difficult to deal with and talk about it,” Kapszukiewicz said.

Toledo Police Chief Mike Troendle said it wasn’t a good scene for anyone involved and officers are forced to make tough decisions for preservation of life.

“We try to de-escalate, we try to use our crisis intervention training to try to talk them down and try to get them help, but there’s a lot of things that are different here,” Troendle said. “She’s not communicating with us. She’s using her kids to chant and do things that our officers are really worried about, that this is really escalating badly. There’s also the fact the kids were involved.”

He went on to say that instances in which a barricaded person has hostages inside, it moves up the timeline for when they need to act.

“The last thing I want to do is be standing here because we didn’t take any action, and were talking about how we were outside when she murdered her three kids,” Troendle said.

The Chief said the department always learns from every situation.

“Our officers are heroes,” Troendle said. “They saved the lives of three young kids.”

He urged the community to seek help for their loved ones suffering from mental health problems before the situation escalates, encouraging early intervention. He said the community as a whole should also work to look out for one another.

He says the majority of their calls these days have a mental health component, saying that’s steadily increased since 2020. Toledo Police works with the mental health board on a crisis intervention training program for officers. It’s a week-long training that exposes them to various mental illnesses and the recommended procedures to educate officers and help de-escalate situations accordingly.

The incident marks the second police shooting in as many days. TPD says an officer shot a man who pointed a BB gun at police while serving a robbery warrant on April 16.

Troendle said it’s a big deal for the community, officers, and the department as a whole when police have to use their weapons.

“What it tells me is our officers are out their doing our job, our officers are out there being proactive and doing what needs to be done to protect our community. They’re not just hiding out, they’re not avoiding harm’s way,” Troendle said. “Unfortunately this is a part of their job and this is what today’s law enforcement looks like.”

*GRAPHIC WARNING: VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED* The full briefing is available in the video below

• TPD: Woman shot by officer while approaching children with knife dies from injuries
• TPD: Officer shoots robbery suspect who pointed BB gun at police

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