The graphic video above shows Officer James Spray from the Gallatin Police in Tennessee fatally shooting Laronda Sweatt, who was threatening to attack him with a large, ornate medieval ax. The 40-year-old woman reportedly suffers from bipolar disorder and was provoked into brandishing the ax when police and housing officials came to evict her from her home.
According to Reuters, the Gallatin Police Department released the video on Thursday, filmed from the body camera of Officer Spray. The footage shows Laronda Sweatt advancing on Spray, prepping to attack him with the medieval ax, decorated with a large skull in the center. Spray backs away from the ax-wielding woman and repeatedly tells her to drop the weapon. As Sweatt gets closer and closer, Spray is forced to fire two shots, killing her.
Laronda Sweatt was transported to Sumner Regional Medical Center in Gallatin and pronounced dead upon arrival.
Authorities claim Sweatt had already attacked another officer with the ax before Spray arrived. A sheriff’s deputy named Gary Pickard had just arrived at the home with housing officials to deliver an eviction notice when Laronda Sweatt emerged, wielding the huge medieval ax. She reportedly slashed Pickard with the weapon, forcing him to retreat back into his car and call for backup. Officer James Spray hurried to the scene with two other officers, and that’s where the body camera footage begins.
Police released a statement with the video, claiming that Spray fired two shots as Laronda Sweatt “continued advancing and making aggressive movement” with the ax.
While the footage seems to support the Gallatin Police statement, Sweatt’s daughter Alainna Sweatt claims the video is edited to only show “half of the story that the police wants you to see,” according to the Tennessean.
“Before they start judging, people should see the entire, unedited video, so they can make their own conclusions. This is not doing my mother any justice. She was not a person who was out there to attack police officers. She was provoked.”
The death of the woman wielding a medieval ax has come at the height of controversy about white police officers shooting black individuals and the mentally ill. Laronda Sweatt fits both of those categories. However, unlike other recent victims of fatal police shootings, Sweatt was both armed and dangerous.
“From my understanding there were two shots fired,” said Gallatin Police Chief Don Bandy. “Our officers were actually doing CPR on Ms. Sweatt. They were trying to assist until EMS got here. To my understanding she was pronounced dead at the hospital.”
Another difference between the shooting of the ax-wielding woman is the number of times Officer Spray fired. In a recent report from the Inquisitr, a mentally ill Hispanic man was shot dead while carrying a garden hose nozzle painted black. A police officer mistook the nozzle for a gun and shot him eight or nine times, which the family of the victim believed was excessive. But Officer Spray only fired twice, with the second shot coming only after Laronda Sweatt continued to advance.
But Sweatt’s mother Ella Sweatt claims her daughter was not a violent person, according to the Daily Mail.
“Laronda was a very sweet, caring person until you pushed her. Laronda wasn’t violent unless you made her violent. She was a good mother, she took good care of her child… She died a beautiful lady. And I’m not gonna be satisfied until I get the truth.”
What do you think? Was it justified to shoot the woman threatening officers with a large, medieval ax, especially after she had already slashed a sheriff’s deputy with the weapon?
[Photo via the Gallatin Police]
Laronda Sweatt: Woman Attacks Officers With Huge Medieval Ax, Gets Fatally Shot [Graphic Video] is an article from: The Inquisitr News