An Oklahoma cop’s body camera captured graphic footage of a fatal police shooting outside a Muskogee church.
Officer Chansey McMillin shot and killed Terence D. Walker on Saturday after the armed 21-year-old suspect ran from police who were responding to a domestic complaint.
The footage showed McMillin — one of between 50 and 60 officers Muskogee officers with a body camera — begin to pat down Walker in front of the Old Agency Baptist Church. When the cop found Walker’s gun, the suspect ran, police said.
The unedited video, released Friday, captured the shooting and its aftermath: a shaken McMillian broke down and a witness claimed the cop did “everything right.”
The footage comes during a nationwide push for more officers to wear body cameras after a series of high-profile police killings, including that of Ferguson, Mo., teenager Michael Brown.
On the day of the Muskogee shooting, Walker repeatedly threatened his ex-girlfriend, Sgt. Mike Mahan told the Tulsa World. Walker — who lives in Texas but was in Oklahoma to pick up a car he left at his ex’s house — told her he “had a bullet with her name on it” before she went to church.
Walker followed her to the church, and police showed up soon after.
The officers asked to speak with Walker. Outside of the church, McMillin began to pat Walker down, but when he felt a gun, Walker bolted, police said.
McMillin chased after Walker before he fired at the 21-year-old. Walker, who was hit three times in the neck and torso, fell into a ditch, the video showed.
A man who identified himself as the church’s pastor ran toward the cop, begging him, “Don’t shoot no more.”
McMillin ordered the pastor to stand back while other officers surveyed Walker’s body.
Later, the video showed the same pastor tell other officers that McMillin “followed procedures” and that “he did everything right.”
Moments later, an emotional McMillin collapsed on another cop’s car.
“Why’d (Walker) have to do that?” he asked when other officers tried to comfort him.
McMillin was put on paid leave after the shooting — his second in a six-month period. In July, McMillin shot a knife-wielding man who stabbed a victim and then advanced toward a group of cops. The suspect, Angel Cerda, survived, and McMillin was cleared in the case.
The Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation is investigating the Saturday shooting.
Police forces around the country have started putting bodycams on officers in an effort to increase transparency. The NYDP started its pilot program in December, testing several kinds of cameras that are worn on an officer’s shirt.
The increased use of the cameras means more officers’ duties will be visually documented.
