A police body camera shows that the hostage situation has turned fatal

The shooting occurred after officers responded to a 911 call for a “psychiatric emergency.”

Police arrived at a home in the Libby Hill neighborhood of East Richmond around 7:30 p.m.

In the driveway of the home, officers begin talking to 36-year-old Kyle Harris, who repeatedly tells them he “has a hostage” and that “he’s armed” when officers ask him to come to the door. Harris cannot be seen from the entrance, but he can be heard accusing his wife of cheating on him with another man.

At that moment, the police called for reinforcements and entered the house.

“You’re going to have to shoot me,” Harris is heard saying at one point.

“We’re not trying to get to that, okay?” the officer answers.

A few minutes later, Harris says he intends to kill the police officer tonight. At one point he says he’ll “cut the officer’s throat.”

Police repeatedly said they just wanted to talk to Harris. Around 7:57 p.m., police burst into the house with a negotiator and an officer armed with a ballistic shield. The officer is heard saying, “He’s got an axe!”

The chief officer hits the bedroom door with his shield, revealing Harris lying horizontally on the bed. The policeman shoots Harris twice. Then two officers use tasers.

The video, which becomes blurry, appears to show Harris bleeding from his torso. Harris died five hours later at the hospital, police said.

In a news release, police spokesman James Mercante said officers entered the home because they feared for the hostage’s safety. According to Mercante, the woman was found unharmed.

In 2023, Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards promised the public that the department would release body-recorded footage of police shootings no later than two weeks after they happened. The Richmond Police Department is the only police department in central Virginia with such a policy.

In a statement accompanying the release of the video, Mercante wrote that the department’s goal is to be more transparent with the public.

“The Richmond Police Department continues to work with various stakeholders to provide the community with a clear and unbiased account of critical incidents,” Mercante said.

The shooting of Harris remains under internal investigation by the department and will be reviewed by Richmond District Attorney Colette McEachin, who will decide whether charges will be filed against the officers involved in Harris’ death.

Earlier this year, McEachin declined to press charges against the officers who killed 20-year-old Kenneth Sharp on March 31.

Video from this incident showed Sharp getting out of the car, holding a rifleafter which police asked him to drop the gun and then shot Sharp four times.