Officer body camera footage of Wednesday’s fatal police shooting of a Columbus man shows he held a large knife and asked police to kill him.
On Wednesday morning, police received a phone call for a domestic disturbance involving a man who had a knife and was threatening to kill himself and a woman on Kimberly Parkway on the southeast side of Columbus near Eastland. Police identified the man as Kyle Anthony Veyon.
Body camera footage shows a police officer shooting Veyon. An ambulance took Veyon, 26, to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, where he later died. Police identify the officer who shot Veyon as Andrew Hawkins, an 11-year veteran.
When officers arrived at the scene, the footage shows Veyon moving a knife near his neck and walking towards Hawkins. Hawkins tells Veyon multiple times to “stop it.” One officer points a taser at Veyon, while Hawkins points a gun at Veyon and asks him to “back up.”
Veyon then turns towards the woman involved and begins chasing her. The woman runs away from him, screaming inaudibly, while officers follow. The woman runs out of reach of Veyon, who then stops and turns toward Hawkins. While holding the knife at his own neck, Veyon then walks towards Hawkins, yelling “kill me” multiple times. Hawkins replies “stop it” several times.
Meanwhile, the officer with the taser attempts to reload it but fails to do so before Hawkins shoots Veyon. The officers administer first aid and call for an ambulance, which soon arrives.
An officer then walks towards the woman involved that Veyon chased and asks her if he had ever done anything like this before.
The woman says, “He hit me before” and said that he was going to “kill the both of us.”
The officer who had the taser then speaks with Hawkins. “I tried to tase him,” the officer said.
“I know you did,” Hawkins replies. “We tried every-- I mean, how many times did he try to charge us?”
“I mean, he was running after her,” the other officer said. “He tried to charge us at least--”
“Did you see him try to pin me here?” Hawkins said, pointing towards the spot by their police car where they first encountered Veyon.
“Oh yeah, oh yeah,” the officer replies.
The woman told police that Veyon had been calling her at work, sent her a picture of himself with a knife to his throat, and threatened to damage her property. She felt Veyon might follow through with damaging her belongings, so she left work to return home.
When she arrived home, she told police that Veyon had cut up a large amount of her clothing. She said Veyon began yelling at her, "If we can't be together, I'm going to kill you and then kill myself." She also said she had an active “Stay Away Order” involving Veyon, but police have not verified this.
Hawkins is now on leave, per division policy after any officer involved shooting, and the incident is under investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.