Nine officers fatally shoot pedestrian on Nashville interstate after half-hour standoff and it's caught on body cameras
Nashville — Nine law enforcement officers fatally shot a man who'd been walking alone on an interstate in Nashville Thursday, authorities say. The shooting happened after a half-hour standoff.
The deadly encounter on I-65 North was caught on body cameras, CBS Nashville affiliate WTVF-TV reports.
The man was identified in a police statement late Thursday as Landon Eastep, 37. No hometown was given.
He was agitated and carrying a box cutter in his left hand, Metro Nashville Police Department spokesman Don Aaron said.
Officers tried to de-escalate the situation but the nine officers, from three agencies, fired at Eastep when he quickly pulled an unknown "silver, shiny cylindrical object" from his right pocket, Aaron said, adding that he didn't know what the object was but it wasn't a firearm.
The body camera footage, released by Nashville police, shows officers surrounding Eastep, who has his back to the berm between the northbound and southbound lanes, when they fired.
Bursts of gunfire can be heard.
He was hit multiple times and died at the scene, Aaron said. No officers were injured.
Caught on video
According to WTVF, it all began when a trooper with the Tennessee Highway Patrol stopped to check on Eastep when he saw him on the highway's shoulder.
An off-duty Mt. Juliet officer who was driving with his family pulled over to help the trooper before back-up law enforcement arrived.
"Look, I don't have a damn vest on and I still stopped on the interstate because I want you to go home today," the Mt. Juliet officer is heard saying on the body-cam video. "I don't want you dead on the side of the interstate. Nobody wants that. These folks right here, they've got kids. Look, I've got kids in the car, kids standing by. Don't give them that show, brother."
"C'mon brother, just drop the knife, get your hand out your pocket," the Mt. Juliet officer is heard telling Eastep. "If that's a gun, what you've go in there, don't worry we'll figure it out, we'll fix it! I'm not too worried about that right now, I'm worried about you. I'm worried about you, Landon. C'mon, brother, just drop it. I know you can do it. I know you want to do the right thing here, and this is your chance."
Eastep is then seen on the body camera footage pulling his right hand out of his pocket and pointing an object at officers.
"Landon, c'mon brother. Landon, please brother, don't do it. No no no no!"
Nine law enforcement officers then fired their weapons. Six were Metro Nashville Police officers, two were THP troopers and one was the off-duty Mt. Juliet Police officer.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is now handling the case.
Drivers who were stopped on the northbound lanes witnessed the shooting, and some even posted cell phone video on social media, WTVF says.
The incident shut down traffic on the normally bustling travel corridor.