Video: Seattle Police Stop Suspect who Pointed Gun at Officers
What to know
• Seattle police released surveillance, dashboard and body camera footage showing officers fatally shooting a 29-year-old suspect who allegedly pointed a gun at them Tuesday.
• Officers repeatedly ordered Nelson to drop the weapon before firing, and a bystander in a nearby apartment was injured by shattered glass, according to police.
• The shooting involved a man residents said had shown signs of mental health issues and who, according to family, had struggled with instability in recent years.
Source The Seattle Times
Seattle police released footage showing the moments a man was shot and killed by police officers after he allegedly waved a gun near an intersection Tuesday afternoon in Rainier Valley.
The video, released Friday afternoon, includes audio from a 911 call and footage from a surveillance camera, a patrol car's dashboard camera and an officer's body-worn camera.
The King County medical examiner's office identified the man killed as 29-year-old Christian Hadley Nelson and determined he died from gunshot wounds.
The 911 call reported a shirtless man brandishing a gun and walking toward Martin Luther King Jr. Way South near South Othello Street around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.
“Hey, you guys better send somebody quick, man,” the 911 caller tells the dispatcher. “There's a dude walking up the hill on Othello … and he’s got a gun. He’s got a gun in his hand and he’s just pointing it at everybody that drives by.”
Surveillance footage shows Nelson, wearing flannel pants and sandals, walking on the sidewalk with the alleged weapon. His face is blurred.
In the dashboard video, an officer yells “Drop it” or “Drop the gun” seven times as Nelson walks closer to the patrol car. Nelson then points what appears to be a gun at the officers, and at least one officer fires multiple rounds. Nelson falls to the ground. The officers fire on him again after he lifts the object while seated. Nelson doesn't move after that.
A second after an officer begins shooting, the glass windows of an apartment complex behind Nelson shatter. A bystander inside the apartment complex was injured, according to police.
The body-worn camera footage is from an officer who fired several shots while another continues to yell for Nelson to drop the weapon. Another officer is heard in the background radioing Shots fired."
No officers were injured during the shooting, Seattle police Chief Shon Barnes said Tuesday.
Tuesday’s killing marks the fourth fatal encounter involving Seattle police this year. Seattle police killed one person last year and another person in 2023, when an officer driving his patrol car struck and killed Jaahnavi Kandula.
Residents in the neighborhood who had encountered Nelson before said he appeared to be experiencing mental health issues.
A GoFundMe created on Friday said Nelson had "struggled in recent years with depression and periods of instability" but was "once full of energy, laughter, and that big 'golden retriever' spirit. Nelson is survived by a 9-year-old son, according to the post.
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