Body camera video shows Louisville police shoot and kill armed robbery suspect

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville police released body camera footage Friday showing the events leading up to a fatal police shooting last month in the Southside neighborhood.

Louisville Metro Police Deputy Chief Ryan Bates said officers were called to the 100 block of East Southland Boulevard just before 10 p.m. Nov. 22 after a person said they were robbed at gunpoint.

In the video, which you can watch below, Officer Patrick Norton locates the suspect — identified Friday as William Jenkins — walking down the sidewalk in the area and told him to stop walking away and get his hands out of his pockets. The man put his hands in front of his face, but as Norton got closer, he took off running. Norton quickly caught up and pushed the man down from behind. He then quickly backed up, saying "He's reaching! Stop reaching!"

At that point, Norton pulled out his gun and fired about nine shots.

On Officer Patrick Waller's body camera video, he gets out of his cruiser near Norton and immediately said "He's reaching for a gun. Drop the f****** gun!" He then fired several shots as well.

"This is a deadly force situation," LMPD Deputy Chief Emily McKinley said during a news conference Friday. "Officers are going to fire as many rounds until they perceive that threat to be over. And so that is what happened."

The officers slowly approached the man and retrieved the gun from his right hand. The man was unresponsive and was later pronounced dead by EMS.

Norton's checkered past with LMPD

In November 2019, Norton was investigating a stolen vehicle about a block away from the Kroger near 35th and Bank streets when an active shooter call at the store prompted them to respond to the store, according to Commonwealth Attorney Tom Wine's report.

Body camera footage shows Norton position himself behind a brick pillar looking out toward the store's parking lot and another officer following with a rifle he got from their police car.

In the video, a witness can be heard pointing out the suspect, Shelby Gazaway, in the parking lot to Norton, who turns on the mounted flashlight of his gun, points it toward Gazaway and yells "Hey! Hey! Hey!" before appearing to fire a shot and moving behind the pillar.

Norton told members of the Public Integrity Unit Gazaway fired toward him after he yelled, according to Wine's report. Norton told investigators that he returned fire but "couldn't remember how many times."

LMPD's Crime Scene Unit found 15 shell casings at the scene that were consistent with Norton's Glock 22 semiautomatic, according to Wine's report. An autopsy revealed that seven "medium caliber projectiles" were recovered from Gazaway's body.

In a letter dated July 8, 2020, to a member of LMPD's Public Integrity Unit, Wine said Norton and the other officer "were justified in using deadly physical force."

And then in June 2020, Norton shot a man in mental distress in east Louisville. He pleaded with Connor Grace to drop his weapon and fired a non-fatal shot before taking him into custody.

Personnel records show Norton's been the subject of at least eight different policy investigations and 18 sustained violations in the last eight years. In fact, in 2019, then-Chief Steve Conrad recommended Norton be fired.

According to records, Norton purposefully deactivated his body camera before using force on a suspect that led to injury. The report claims he then dropped that suspect off at the wrong entrance to the hospital and left him there.

Conrad ultimately walked back the termination and suspended Norton for 20 days.

In two separate incidents in 2018 and 2019, Norton was suspended for 12 days total for making "profane, insulting, demeaning, and belittling comments" to two people at a crime scene and being uncivil to a person in distress.

Documents show he also failed to separate a suspect and a witness involved in the 2018 case.

Norton has also been reprimanded for bad traffic stops, unreasonable pat downs and an unjustified search of a home among other issues.

But most of that discipline was in the early part of his LMPD career, and there's been nothing serious in the last five years.

Records released by LMPD in the aftermath of this month's shooting show 46 commendations for Norton for good police work, including a 2022 Medal of Valor.

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