Buffalo police officers shot and killed Edward Holmes, 58, Saturday morning, after responding to a 911 call regarding a man on Reed Street with a shotgun.
The Buffalo Police Department released police-worn body camera footage of the fatal incident Monday.
The body cam footage shows that at least five officers responded to the call, in which Holmes can be seen in the middle of the street holding a shotgun. At one point Holmes appears to aim the shotgun toward the officers.
In a press conference Monday, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia named Officers Joshua Slupinkski and Andrew Lewis as the two officers who discharged their weapons. The officers shot Holmes twice - once in the chest and once in the bicep area, according to Gramaglia.
Slupinksi and Lewis fired a total of 20 rounds at Holmes - Slupinksi released 14 rounds and Lewis six, Gramaglia said.
Along with body cam footage, the police department also released audio of the original 911 call and Gramaglia stated that they have now traced that call back to Holmes himself. The incident was “most likely a suicide by cop situation,” Gramaglia told reporters.
"Mr. Holmes called 911 from his own cellphone and he was calling as though he were a witness to somebody else. The call was there is a man in the middle of the street with a gun, with a shotgun. The 911 call taker asked for a description, he provided a description that was of himself. At no point did he ever say that that was him, at no point did he ever make any claim that he was having a mental health crisis, never asked for help."
Officers who discharged their weapons have been placed on administrative leave as per departmental policy.
Gramaglia said officers fired so many rounds because they are taught to shoot to end the threat and were “absolutely justified in their use of deadly physical force.”
WBFO has decided not to embed the body camera video of the incident, but has provided a link to the video in the body of the story, above.
