Body-camera video shows Tacoma police officer shoot at man during domestic-violence call
TACOMA – Tacoma Police Department has released body camera footage showing an officer shoot at a man outside a West End apartment complex during a domestic violence call this past New Year’s Eve.
The 32-year-old man wasn’t hit by gunfire. Police said the officer who fired the gunshot, Ira Stephens, 52, shot once after the other man walked outside and drew what appeared to be a handgun. The officer has been with TPD for 28 years. Police said it was later determined to be an airsoft pistol made to look like a Glock handgun.
The 32-year-old man wasn’t identified. He was booked into jail for investigation of second-degree assault. According to police, he was released Jan. 3. The case against him was sent to the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for review. On Friday, spokesperson Adam Faber told the News Tribune the office determined it was a misdemeanor case and sent it to the Tacoma City Attorney’s Office for review in municipal court.
The 911 call police responded to also wasn’t what it seemed. Officers went to the apartment after a man reported he had a knife and was fighting with his fiancée, but after the shooting occurred, police spoke with the fiancée and learned she was unaware the man had called 911 and there was no domestic violence issue between the couple.
Police noted in the video release that officers had responded to several calls from the same man for suicide threats. The man only said he had a knife when he first called 911 and hung up, according to police, but when dispatchers called him back and asked him to step outside, the man said he had a knife and a gun.
The Pierce County Force Investigation Team is typically called to investigate police uses of deadly force. In this case, police said TPD maintained jurisdiction because no injuries occurred. Police said the investigation is ongoing.
Video from Stephens’ body camera begins at 7:37 p.m. that night, six minutes after the first 911 call, according to the footage. He and officer Eric Schillen stood outside an apartment complex in the 3800 block of North Pearl Street locating the man’s unit. After Schillen points out the apartment with a flashlight, he tells Stephens he’s going to grab something. It’s unclear what he said, but later in the video the officer is seen with a rifle.
At 7:38 p.m., dispatchers are heard conferring with officers about which unit the man is in. Seconds later, dispatchers said they have the man on the phone and are asking him to step outside. The man began walking down a staircase from a second-floor unit.
The shooting happened in an instant. The man appeared in the video for 6 seconds before Stephens pointed his handgun and fired. Police didn’t say anything to him until the split second before the man drew the airsoft gun.
“Had you called?” Stephens said. Immediately thereafter, the officer pointed his handgun and fired once. After shooting, Stephens backed up a few steps. “What do you got?” he said.
The officers approached the man and commanded him to get on the ground. As that happened, dispatchers are heard: “He’s saying he has a knife and a handgun.” Stephens said into his radio that a shot was fired. The man then went to the ground, and Schillen knelt to handcuff him. Stephens said he didn’t know if he hit the man.
At 7:39 p.m., someone else steps out of an apartment on the second floor. “What the hell?” the person said. The officers tell them to stay inside. Soon after, Schillen asks, “Are you hit ma’am?” The person replied, “No.”
The 32-year-old man isn’t heard speaking to the officers in the video. Schillen walks the man away at 7:40 p.m., and the body camera video ends.
Police said the man pulled the airsoft gun from the front of his waist as he walked down the apartment stairs, and he dropped it after police shot at him. The pistol and a green kitchen knife police said the man had in his back waistband were recovered at the scene.