St. Paul releases footage of man armed with knife before he is shot, killed by officer

St. Paul police body camera footage released Friday shows the moment last weekend when a 65-year-old, knife-wielding man approached officers in an apartment building before one of them fired five times, killing him.

In the recording, officers Noushue Cha and Abdirahman Dahir can be seen heading into the Winslow Commons building the night of Feb. 11 as several residents direct them inside. They approach Yia Xiong in a common area, ordering him to drop the knife.

Xiong can be seen walking away from officers, opening the door to his apartment and stepping inside. Before he can close the door, Cha and Dahir push it open. Xiong then steps out of the room with the knife and approaches the officers.

Dahir yells "stop," then fires his department rifle five times at Xiong. Cha can be seen firing his taser, and Xiong falling to the ground. At that point, the recording ends.

Police Chief Axel Henry said at a news conference at police headquarters that while the investigation by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) must play out, his early impression is the officers' actions were in accordance with department protocol.

"It appears the tactics are consistent with what we do, but again I don't want to be weighing in on opinions about an investigation that's still very early-on," Henry said.

Henry was joined by Mayor Melvin Carter, and both extended sympathies to Xiong's family. Carter said he looks forward to hearing more details from the BCA's investigation.

"That trust that takes place between our officers and our community members is a sacred and fragile resource that we must take very seriously and be careful stewards of," Carter said.

Outside, about a half-dozen Hmong community members protested Xiong's killing. Among them was City Council Member Nelsie Yang, the first Hmong-American woman to serve on the council.

Yang said she thinks Xiong was unnecessarily provoked to come out of the apartment before being shot.

"It was so heartbreaking to see. This could have turned out a very different way, and Yia Xiong should still be alive today," Yang said.

"I do feel that there was some injustice done, and what's really important is going to be holding police accountable to make sure this doesn't happen again and making sure people overall are not getting killed by folks here to serve us."

Henry said officers try first to deploy a "less-lethal" weapon, such as a Taser, before resorting to using a firearm. The BCA said Xiong was holding a 16-inch hunting knife; still images from the video show the knife in Xiong's hand as he approaches the officers, and on the floor as they try to arrest him.

Protesters were upset after watching the video. They said it appeared as if Dahir fired before Cha used the taser. Others wondered if the language barrier could have been a factor.

"Could we have gone in with a less-lethal weapon, instead of using the AR rifle?" protestor Bee Vang asked.

Snowdon Herr, a Hmong American resident of St. Paul, said he thinks shooting the man was excessive.

"I believe he did not need to be killed. There are certain ways to immobilize him, but to use deadly force was unnecessary," Herr said at the protest.

Ginger Charles, a retired police sergeant and current chair of the criminal justice program at Cabrillo College in California, said that after viewing the footage she thinks the shooting was appropriate.

"In a knife encounter, officers are taught that there's just not much time," said Charles, a psychologist. "So even though you hear the gunshot before the taser, that's not an inappropriate response in my mind."

Charles said a stabbing does not have to be deep to be fatal and that in this case the threat of the knife is viewed as a deadly force assault.

Both officers have a year of law enforcement experience.

Xiong's death is one of more than 220 officer-involved shootings that have occurred in Minnesota since 2000. At least 30 have been in St. Paul.

In December, St. Paul police officer Cody Blanshan shot and killed 24-year-old Howard Peter Johnson, a Black man, after a reported domestic assault near Earl Street and Hudson Road. Surveillance and body camera footageshowed Johnson appeared to have exchanged gunfire with Blanshan before he was killed. The BCA continues to investigate that shooting.