The Athens Police Department released body cam footage this week showing two officers pleading with a man armed with a knife to drop his weapon before they were ultimately forced to fire upon him.
Officers were called out to a report of a man covered in blood and armed with a knife acting erratically. Body camera footage shows the suspect, identified as 23-year-old Aaron Hong approaching the two policemen and asking them to shoot him.
The officers told Hong to drop the knife, explaining they could help him. As one of the officers moved to replace his gun with a taser, Hong suddenly charged the other officer with his knife, prompting his partner to shoot Hong several times.
Hong fell to the ground, but stood up again and bolted toward an officer in an attempt to take his gun. One of the officers then shot Hong several times.
Hong died on the scene when ambulances arrived.
“We never want to take another person’s life, we just absolutely don’t,” Athens Police Chief Cleveland Spruill explained while talking about the decision to release the body cam footage. “I really wanted people to see what our officers were doing to try to prevent having to take the steps that they did.”
One of the officers involved in the shooting joined the force only a year ago and this was the second shooting he has been involved in.
This article was written by KHQ Intern Hannah Mumm
