Bodycam footage released on Thursday shows a standoff between police and a man suffering from an apparent mental health crisis in Paterson, New Jersey.
Police were called to a home earlier this month where 31-year-old Naji Seabrooks had locked himself in the bathroom, and his family reported that he had been behaving erratically and hallucinating.
Negotiations with Seabrooks lasted nearly five hours, during which police attempted to get him to surrender and even invited family members to help.
However, Seabrooks told police that he had two knives and a gun, and at one point, he threw an unknown liquid at an officer and started a fire.
Officers used 15 non-lethal projectiles that were not effective, and Seabrooks began cutting himself with knives.
The standoff ended when Seabrooks lunged toward the officers with a knife, and they opened fire, killing him.
The shooting remains under investigation, and members of the Patterson Healing Collective and the ACLU are calling for changes in the response to mental health emergencies.
