HOUSTON — Houston Police releasing new body cam footage of a deadly officer involved shooting from May 21, 2021.
"We're keeping our word," said HPD Chief Troy Finner.
It's the first body cam video released since a new policy went into effect calling for footage of deadly police shootings be released within 30 days.
"The goal is for citizens to watch the video and to come to their own opinion," said Finner.
The video from May 21 is graphic. Multiple officers' cameras capture what happened. A man walks up on officers during an unrelated traffic stop. You can hear the man shout at police "shoot me."
Police ask him to show his hands. He draws a gun and is able to get one shot off before four HPD officers opened fire. The whole incident unfolded in seconds.
HPD slowed down the video pointing out the gun in the suspect's hand.
"If police officers are wrong they're wrong, and if the citizen is wrong, they're wrong," said Finner. "We'll call them as we see them."
The man was wounded but later died.
RAW VIDEO: Here is an edited down version of the body cam video which stops just before the shooting. A link to the full unedited version is available at the bottom of the article.
"It gives people a different perspective of how these things happen in split second decisions, and our officers have to make those decisions," said Finner. "And it's not as easy as people think. I know it's tragic when someone gets seriously hurt or loses their life, but that's policing."
Mayor Sylvester Turner says releasing body cam footage in a timely manner will help build trust between the community and police. It's one of several recommendations that came from his Task Force on Policing Reform.
"It's important for us to be transparent," said Turner. "It's important for us to make information available. What happens when information is not available people assume something must have been wrong or we're hiding something."
The investigation into this shooting is still ongoing.