On June 20th, in a Knoxville neighborhood, officers with the Knoxville Police Department responded to reports of a woman named Shilo M. Rice, a 49-year-old woman, who was brandishing a knife and threatening to harm herself and others.
In an attempt to defuse the situation, officers approached one of the homes in the area where Rice was reported to be. The officers’ bodycam footage reveals that they approached the building with their weapons drawn after noting someone was yelling inside.
Rice charged towards the officers, knife in hand, despite their repeated pleas for her to stop.
“Don’t do it! Don’t do it! Don’t you do it! Don’t do it! Don’t do it!” one of the officers shouted to Rice, who appears in the footage running towards them.
In response, all three officers fired their weapons, killing Rice.
The video footage shows the officers moving in to check on Rice, who was lying on the ground. After she attempts to move and grabs the knife once more, the officers once again put her down in order to protect themselves and any parties potentially in harm’s way.
In the end, Rice was pronounced dead at the University of Tennessee Medical Center.
While critics and doubters have criticized the officers for their handling of the situation, they acted in accordance with the law and in self-defense to protect themselves and the Knoxville community from a potentially life-threatening situation.