The Vancouver Police Department on Friday released bodycam video showing officers shooting an armed man early on Dec. 28.
The man who police shot, identified as 44-year-old Perry J. Sellars, of Vancouver, was pronounced dead later that night at a hospital.
The 911 caller whose report brought officers to the 13200 block of N.E. 46th St. in Vancouver at around midnight said the man had pointed a handgun at her and had fired a shot in the air, according to a police statement and 911 audio edited into the released video.
“My daughter’s companion is running around with a loaded gun,” the caller tells the 911 dispatcher in the video. He’s threatened to shoot himself, she adds.
The caller then says the man now might be outside in the back yard or at the side of the house.
“He’s mentally disturbed,” the caller says.
The video then shows bodycam footage from Vancouver police officer Christopher Holmquist. In the footage, the officer and another Vancouver officer – Sgt. James Dewey – approach a woman wearing a robe and standing outside in the driveway of a home. She’s crying and, looking into the darkness along the side of the house, says, “Baby, please don’t do this.”
Dewey spots a man where the woman is looking. “Hey, bud, you okay?” he says.
The two officers appear to see that the man is holding a gun.
“Drop the gun,” Holmquist orders, raising his own gun.
“Drop the gun, baby,” the woman sobs.
The two officers repeatedly call out to the man to drop the gun, but he doesn’t do so. He walks slowly across the driveway toward the front door, the gun’s barrel pointed at the ground. Over by the front door stands another woman, the one who called 911, according to graphics added to the video.
As the man is about to turn the corner toward the front door, Holmquist fires his gun.
The released video also includes footage from cameras worn by Dewey and Officer Sean Donaldson. Donaldson’s camera shows him climbing out of a patrol car and running toward the house. He spots the man in the driveway holding a gun. The other two officers are already there.
As Donaldson arrives in front of the driveway, the woman wearing the robe is out of the frame of the camera but can be heard crying. Donaldson sees the man in the driveway and raises his gun.
“Drop it now,” Donaldson calls out to the man.
The distraught woman also yells, “Drop the gun!”
The man in the driveway, wearing a pullover shirt and sweatpants, moves slowly toward the front door, where the other woman is standing.
As the man reaches the corner of the garage, leading to the front door, Donaldson fires multiple shots, apparently at almost exactly the same time as Holmquist.
The man crumples to the ground.
“Oh, my god!” the woman in the robe yells, sobbing.
“Do not reach for the firearm,” Holmquist calls out to the wounded man.
The officers approach the man on the ground. One of them picks up the gun the man dropped after being shot, and the officers handcuff the man’s hands behind his back. A large splotch of blood can be seen on the pavement and across the man’s shirt. Approaching sirens can be heard.
The video then shows the officers providing first aid to the man.
In a statement included with the release of the video, the Vancouver Police Department said it “values the sanctity of human life and the dignity of all persons, and any loss of life is tragic.”
Dewey, Donaldson and Holmquist, none of whom were injured in the incident, remain on critical incident leave as the investigation by the Washington State Office of Independent Investigations continues.
The Vancouver Police Department has uploaded the video to YouTube. Warning: it shows graphic violence.
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