The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has released body camera video showing the events leading up to the deadly officer-involved shooting of 22-year-old Asia Bennett on August 11.
Bennett's family previously held a press conference along with civil rights attorney Ben Crump calling for a quick release of the footage to the public.
According to JSO, officers responded to a home on Westdale Drive around 10:45 p.m. after receiving a domestic violence-related call from a person who was in a relationship with Bennett.
The video shows officers arriving at the home and speaking with a man who told them his girlfriend was inside the residence with a knife. Moments later, Bennett exits the house carrying several items. Officers repeatedly ordered her to drop the objects, and Bennett complied for everything except the knife, which she continued to hold.
Throughout the encounter, Bennett can be heard repeatedly yelling that he "beat" her as officers continued giving commands for her to drop the weapon. Bennett refused, and repeatedly told officers to kill her.
When Bennett did not comply with commands and moved toward officers, according to JSO, that's when Officer Gaitten fired her weapon. After Bennett fell to the ground, officers continued ordering her to drop the knife. A second shot was then fired.
First Coast News Crime and Safety Analyst Ken Jefferson reviewed the body camera footage and said the situation escalated because Bennett did not comply with officers' commands to drop the knife.
"When she's not obeying the commands to drop the knife, the officers use deadly force to stop the threat," Jefferson said. "Now there are those that'll say, well, she only had a knife and you had a gun. Why didn't you just try to talk to her or whatever? If she's advancing on you with a knife, statistics have shown that a person with a knife can get up on you much quicker than you can draw your gun. Even though their guns were already drawn, you don't wanna wait until the person has the opportunity to use that knife against you."
However, Jefferson questions whether the second shot was necessary after Bennett was on the ground.
"My personal opinion on that, if she's on the ground and they're yards away from her, talk the knife out of her hand until she surrenders it as opposed to taking a second shot because they were far enough away where they, in my opinion, that she couldn't do any harm to them," Jefferson said.
"I just don't see where it's necessary for the second shot. I can understand the first shot when she's advancing with the knife towards him, but when she is shot and goes down, she's now disabled. She's, she's injured and she can't get up," Jefferson said.
Jefferson also said domestic violence calls are among the most dangerous situations officers respond to, but believes officers may have overly delayed approaching Bennett after the shooting.
"They waited a couple of minutes before they did advance to take the knife out of her hand and handcuffed her and got EMS there. I believe that that could have been done sooner so that she can get the necessary aid that she needed from the medical staff," Jefferson said.
Bennett's family has retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump to represent them. Crump is set to hold a press conference Thursday, Aug. 27 at noon in Jacksonville.
JSO said the State Attorney's Office is conducting an independent investigation into the shooting, as is normal for shootings involving law enforcement.