VIDEO: The moment police shoot down NAACP activist Sydney Wilson in Reston
Footage shows how the woman lunged with a knife at the Fairfax County, Virginia officer.
Body camera footage of officer Peter Liu.
The Fairfax County, Virginia, Police Department released body camera footage of the officer who killed 33-year-old Sydney Wilson last Sept. 16 during an intervention at her home.
Sydney Wilson's death last September caused an uproar among the African-American activism community due to the circumstances of her death. Wilson, in addition to being a scholarship student and former basketball player for Georgetown University, was an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
From the beginning of the event, the Department's version was questioned by local activists and opinion leaders, who saw Wilson's death as another case of racist police violence. Fairfax Police claimed that the officer who went to Wilson's home was attacked with a knife, and received a severe cut on his forehead.
Now that the officer's security camera footage has been released, the Fairfax Police Department is clearing up any doubt about the actions of its officer, Peter Liu.
According to the Fairfax Police Department, Officer Liu went to the 11800 block of Sunrise Valley Drive in Reston in response to a request from a mental health professional to conduct a check at that address.
As seen on the recording, Agent Liu, who is trained in crisis intervention, knocks on the door but receives several refusals and strange behavior from Sydney Wilson, who refuses to open the door for him.
When Wilson finally opens the door, she does so with a knife in her hand with which he lunges at Agent Liu. Wilson, who is over 6 feet tall, corners the police officer who backs away and tries to de-escalate the situation. After a second attack by Wilson, who manages to stab the officer in the forehead with the knife, Officer Liu opens fire a first time, he then manages to manuever away from his sattacker and gain some distance before opening fire again for a total of two more shots. Wilson then falls to the ground.
Kevin Davis, chief of the county police department, regretted the outcome of this intervention. In the press conference that he offered this Monday, he defended the intervention of his police officer, who, he assures, complied with the protocols and guidelines of the Department for this type of intervention.
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