Body camera video released in Alexandria police shooting – NBC4 Washington

Body camera video shows the fatal shooting of a man by Alexandria police that the state’s attorney found justified.

Video from the mid-August incident shows a man who police say was experiencing mental distress at an apartment complex on Van Dorn Street. Officers tried to get the man, Paul Behan, to drop his gun for at least 20 minutes.

Police were responding to a call from one of Behan’s co-workers who feared Behan was planning to kill himself.

“He was suspended and I think he feels bad about losing his job,” the caller told 911.

The caller also told police Behan was separated from his wife, had a gun and had been drinking.

In the video, he is seen staring at the door of his apartment with a gun pointed at his head.

The police said, “Please don’t do it. Don’t do it, buddy. Don’t do that”

Behan went inside briefly but reemerged with the gun.

First responding officers backed away from the stairs but continued to talk to Behan to try to calm him down. They continued to ask him to drop the gun and stop advancing towards them.

Behan then pointed the gun at the police, who retreated further.

“Paul, I don’t think you wanted to hurt us and I don’t think you wanted to hurt yourself,” an officer said. “That’s why I think you should put down your gun.”

Several police officers, including a trained negotiator, were called to the scene.

“You are a good man,” the negotiator said. “You don’t deserve to hurt yourself.”

About six minutes later, Behan pointed his gun at the police again. A 9-year veteran assigned as a guard officer fired three times, killing Behan.

No officers were injured.

Interim Police Chief Paul Pedroso told reporters that officers follow police procedures in crisis situations and try to de-escalate tensions by creating space.

“I think the officers acted admirably that night,” he said. “Our training and everything that drives our decision-making is to try to slow things down and create as much time and opportunity as possible for the situation to be resolved without incident.”

The Northern Virginia Critical Incident Response Team investigated the shooting to make the assessment the state’s attorney used to make the decision.