By Parker Riley, NewOne
The tables have been turned. A Black cop was afraid for his life due to a thug with a knife and pulled the trigger. The cop will not be charged with a crime.
The incident happened on Friday, Oct. 25 at around 6 a.m. at the LaQuinta Inn in Bossier City, Louisiana. Officer Patrick Edmonds Jr., who is Black, arrived to the scene after an emergency call about a disturbance. Edmonds found Shannon Rupert, 45, in the lobby wielding a pair of scissors. In the bodycam footage, the officer is telling her to put the scissors down.
She can be heard saying, “You’re going to have to shoot me, n***er.” She also said, “You’re not taking them. Shoot me. You’re not taking them. Shoot me. You’re going to have to shoot me!”
Repeatedly he says he will shoot her and to not come toward him. Rupert begins charging at him.
He shot her twice and she later died at the hospital. See the video below, which is graphic.
Her cousin Melinda Peterson said KSLA, “What I am disputing is why they could not have used a Taser instead or the dummy bullets because those dummy bullets will knock you down.”
Shortly after the shooting, Bossier City Police released the following statement, “The officer gave multiple verbal commands to Rupert to put down the weapon. Rupert then aggressively approached the officer with scissors in hand. The officer fired two rounds from his department-issued handgun, striking Rupert in the upper torso.”
District Attorney Schuyler Marvin has now concluded the officer committed no crime, “Based on all evidence reviewed, it is my firm opinion that no crime was committed by the officer as his actions constituted justifiable homicide.”
He also added, “The circumstances confronting this officer were such that a reasonable belief existed that he was in imminent danger of losing his life or suffering great bodily harm, and the discharge of his firearm was necessary for the prevention of a possibly lethal threat.”
Kudos to the officer who tried to deescalate and waited until he was clearly in danger before shooting.
This article originally appeared on NewsOne.
