ROCKY RIVER, Ohio — Bodycam footage released by the Rocky River Police Department shows the moments leading up to an officer shooting a woman with a knife outside her apartment on Linden Road Monday.
Warning: The video is graphic. News 5 stopped the video just before the woman was shot.
Rocky River's police chief said the department received a call at approximately 1:45 a.m. from a US Secret Service agent who said he was on the phone with a woman claiming she had a gun and knife and who was threatening to harm former president Donald Trump and herself.
Police said the woman also threatened police.
Officers responded to Linden House West, located on Linden Road, where they met a 42-year-old woman who police say charged out of her apartment with a knife.
"It was significant," said Police Chief George Lichman. "It was not a butter knife or a steak knife, it was a large knife," said the chief who described the weapon as a "butcher knife."
The woman ignored commands from police to drop the knife and charged at officers, according to police.
One officer deployed his TASER, and a second officer fired his department-issued handgun at the woman twice, striking her in her upper-right torso area.
Officer involved shooting in Rocky River overnight being handled by BCI. RRPD Chief says they were called to an apartment on Linden Road and were met by a woman with a gun threatening herself and officers. She was shot and taken to a hospital. Condition unknown. pic.twitter.com/cvt7u06Yym
— Mike Vielhaber (@MVielhaber) November 8, 2021
Officers administered first aid, and the woman was transported to MetroHealth Medical Center for treatment. The woman is in stable condition, police said.
The department said no officers were injured.
Three Rocky River police officers are on temporary administrative leave, per department policy.
The officer involved in the shooting is an 11-year veteran of the Rocky River Police Department.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is investigating the shooting.
"I'll reserve a judgment in its entirety for the conclusion of the investigation," said Lichman. "From what I've seen, I'm confident they reacted appropriately."
The Rocky River police chief said they have had prior contact with the woman, including a 2018 incident where she allegedly rammed three or four police cruisers.
Court records show she later pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer, vandalism, and failure to comply with police and was ordered to undergo a psychiatric examination.
The woman was sentenced to probation in that case.
A spokesperson for the Secret Service confirmed agents have had prior contact with the woman as well, but would not get into specifics about those cases.
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