LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville police released body camera video Tuesday of four officers shooting a man in west Louisville after he broke into a home occupied by a woman and her two young sons.
Nearly two hours of body camera footage released by the Louisville Metro Police Department shows most of the incident: the man inside the home, later armed with a gun in the backyard of an adjacent home, eventually pointing a gun at pursuing officers on the street and ultimately a barrage of gunfire by police.
On Oct. 24, LMPD Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said officers responded to a ShotSpotter call just before 3:28 a.m. in the 2500 block of Garland Avenue. Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey said Tuesday that Kirsten Holman, an off-duty detective who wasn't on patrol at the time, responded to the ShotSpotter call. She told dispatchers while pulling up to the scene that she continued to hear gunshots and breaking glass.
Shortly thereafter, the woman inside the home on Garland Avenue called 911 to say someone broke into her house. She and her two sons — ages 2 and 6 — were hiding.
Officers Christopher Johnson, John Lyons, Jacob Valdivia and Michael Lonoaea responded. One of them first saw the suspect — identified Tuesday by LMPD as 38-year-old Sylvester Price — through a glass door on the back side of the home. The officer asked him to show his hands, but Price went back toward the front of the house.
Officers outside the front of the house then tried to enter through the front window, but Price broke out a side window and ran into the backyard of a neighboring home. They located him there, yelling through a fence for him to drop the gun and walk toward their voice. Humphrey said Price dropped it for a moment but quickly picked it back up and ran toward a neighboring house.
"Put the gun down!" one officer yelled. "We will help you!"
Officers followed Price toward that house, surrounding it, but he got past them onto the sidewalk and began running from them. Johnson, Lyons, Valdivia and Lonoaea gave chase through a vacant lot nearby, still yelling for Price to put the gun down.
While running, Price repeatedly pointed the gun at the officers as well as other passing LMPD cruisers who were arriving on scene to provide backup, Humphrey said.
"Officers gave verbal commands ordering the suspect to drop the gun," Gwinn-Villaroel said hours after the shooting. "The suspect did not comply."
Price, seen on video walking down the street flailing his hands, can be heard saying "Somebody help!" Shortly thereafter, all four officers fired a barrage of shots before quickly converging on him to render aid.
Price was taken to UofL Hospital in critical condition. Fourteen days later, he's still recovering in the hospital in critical, but stable condition, Humphrey said.
Officers then went back to the home where the man had initially broken in to get the woman and her two sons out. After the scene was cleared, police processed the inside of the home and found gunshots in the kids bedroom, including one that went through one of the boy's pillow.
Price is charged with burglary, wanton endangerment, wanton endangerment of a police officer, resisting arrest and fleeing police.
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