BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — After the Buffalo Police Department released body camera video of an incident in which two officers shot and killed a man on Reed Street on Saturday, 7 News' Kristen Mirand sat down with retired Buffalo Police Captain Jeff Rinaldo to look through the footage.
"You can see right there he spent a considerable amount of time yelling commands to him," Rinaldo said watching the video. "Now you already heard a shot fired. Police have not fired any shots at this point."
Police said officers responded to a report of a man with a gun around 10 a.m. Saturday on the 100 block of Reed Street.
According to police, upon arrival officers encountered Holmes, and he had a shotgun and fit the exact description from the report. The first two police cars that arrived stopped about 50 feet away from where Holmes was and the officers took cover behind their car doors and gave him numerous commands to drop the gun.
"And I think the body cam video shows the police took great measures to the best that they could have trying to get him to put that weapon down," Rinaldo said.
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On Monday, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said it was determined that Holmes was the person who placed the original 911 call.
"Mr. Holmes called 911 from his own cell phone, and he was calling as though he were a witness to somebody else," said Gramaglia. "The call was that 'there is a man in the street with a shotgun,' the 911 call taker asked for a description, he provided a description that was of himself. At no point did he ever say that was him. At no point did he ever make any claim that he was having a mental health crisis. Never asked for help. He simply called as though he were a witness to somebody else in the street that had that gun."
Police fired 20 rounds and Holmes was shot twice. Rinaldo said the number of rounds is understandable given the distance between officers and Holmes.
"They continue to give him an opportunity to put that weapon down. He just chose not to do it, so he truly left these officers with no choice but to defend themselves," Rinaldo explained. "And you continue to fire until the threat no longer exists. What does that mean? It means that the individual is on the ground and is no longer pointing a weapon at you...I think, you know, what the video shows is they didn't have any other choice in this situation."
Ellicott District Council member Leah Halton-Pope released a statement Monday after watching the body cam video. She said, "the absence of de-escalation efforts by Buffalo police is glaring." On Tuesday, Halton-Pope walked back that statement saying they were her initial thoughts.
"I think given the facts they did what they needed to do," she said.
Since watching the video, she said she spoke with Gramaglia to further understand what happened.
"I'm just praying for the community praying for the family and I'm praying for those officers as well because it had to be hard for them to make that decision in that moment too," Halton-Pope said.
Meantime the two officers involved are on administrative leave.
The incident is under investigation by the New York State Attorney General's Office. Anyone with information or video is asked to call or text the confidential line at (716) 847-2255.
"Nobody signs up to be a cop saying, 'Hey, I want to go out and kill somebody.' If anything, you become a police officer to help avoid that from occurring," Rinaldo said.
