Dramatic video shows woman "saved lives" before being killed, victim's mother says
A chaotic and terrifying scene was captured on camera in Carmichael, California. CBS Sacramento reports that footage from an officer-involved shooting was released by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.
The video shows the moments before a deadly confrontation. Chanell Brown, 23, was shot and killed by her boyfriend, who was then killed by Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies. The video shows a man kicking in a door while grasping a woman with one hand and his gun with the other, while the woman warns others to lock their door.
"You got the police called on me, I didn't do (expletive)," the man said in the video.
"Lock your door, lock it," the woman said.
Within minutes, Sacramento Sheriff's deputies arrive and the suspect shoots and kills the woman before deputies open fire and kill him.
"That video speaks a thousand words," Sacramento County Sheriff Sergeant Tess Deterding said. "If you watch it, everything unfolds in a split second."
Brown's mother says even her daughter's final moments were angelic.
"Everything about her was an angel, she helped you," Veronica Brown said. "She saved lives, the night she died she saved lives, she saved other people, she sacrificed her own life. That's what really happened. She sacrificed herself."
The family says Brown was in a relationship with the man who killed her. Earnest Easterling was her first boyfriend. The family sensed something was wrong.
"She had distanced herself from family," sister Kevonna Brown said. "She moved away."
The Browns held a press conference following the Sheriff Department's video release to help prevent other victims of domestic violence from meeting the same fate.
"Our goal was to bring awareness to the situation, moving forward, you know, 'cause that's something as a family, that should be our mission to do for her," brother Keith Brown said.
Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies say the suspect had been arrested in 2016 in the state of Nevada for possession of a concealed firearm but he was not convicted. An online search found no criminal record in Sacramento. Deputies say he did own the gun he used to kill his girlfriend and he bought it legally.