St. Paul police on Tuesday released body and traffic camera recordings of the moment officers shot a man — later suspected of killing three people in Minneapolis — at a busy city intersection last month.
The 20 minutes of footage shows officers approach 40-year-old Earl Bennett as he held a gun to his head while walking barefoot and shirtless along University Avenue just before 8 p.m. Oct. 28.
Police tried to de-escalate the situation by asking Bennett to lower the weapon and by firing less-lethal projectiles at him. When he pointed the gun at them, four officers opened fire.
Bennett was taken to Regions Hospital, where he was listed that day in critical but stable condition. He remains in police custody.
Video from officer Chase Robinson’s body camera shows people telling police of a barefoot man with a gun, followed a couple of minutes later by the encounter between Bennett and officers. He holds a gun to his head and appears to yell and point at officers and passersby.
“Drop the gun!” the officers repeatedly yell as Bennett, standing in the intersection of Snelling and University, insists the weapon is not loaded.
Officers take cover and attempt to wave traffic out of the way of danger. At one point, a man on a bicycle tells them he will take the weapon from Bennett because “he ain’t got no bullets.”
“Do not go over there,” an officer says, telling him to let officers handle it.