Body cam video of deadly N.J. police shooting released. Advocates say Victoria Lee was "in no way a threat to anyone."
FORT LEE, N.J. – The New Jersey attorney general's office released body cam video showing police officers shooting and killing Victoria Lee inside a Fort Lee apartment building in July.
Lee's family said they called 911 when she was having a medical episode on July 28. She had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Her family reviewed the footage with their attorney and the attorney general's office Friday.
Body cam video shows Fort Lee police fatally shooting Victoria Lee
In two 911 calls before police arrived, Lee's brother tells the dispatcher his sister is experiencing a mental crisis and asks for an ambulance. The dispatcher tells him police officers would have to be sent as well. The brother then calls back and asks to cancel the call, but the dispatcher tells him that's not possible. He tells them his sister was holding a foldable knife.
Video shows the moments at least two officers meet with Lee's brother outside the apartment.
"Who's dealing with the mental health crisis? Who's having the nervous breakdown right now?" one officer says.
"It's my sister," Lee's brother, Chris, says.
The apartment door briefly opens, and Lee and her mom can be seen inside with a small dog before one of them closes the door.
An officer then says he's going to break the door down, and someone can be heard yelling from inside, "Go ahead, I'll stab you in the f****** neck. Shoot me if you want to."
"We don't wanna shoot you. We wanna talk to you," one officer says.
At least five officers eventually arrived on the scene.
"Who wants to go less lethal, who wants to go lethal?" one officer asks.
After discussing which officers will use lethal force and which will not, an officer says, "I'm gonna break the door down, ma'am."
Officers push the door open and are heard yelling, "Drop the knife."
Once the door opens, a black object that appears to be a cell phone is dropped by Lee or her mother, Lee approaches the officers with a full water jug in her hand, and Officer Tony Pickens Jr. fires a single shot, striking Lee in the chest. Officers pull her into the hallway as she bleeds and moans, and the officers provide medical aid.
Lee was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
A knife was recovered at the scene, but it's unclear from the video if Lee was holding it when officers opened the door. Her family has maintained she dropped it before officers entered.
Advocates want change in answering mental health calls
At this time, we have not heard from Lee's family nor the attorney general's office.
AAPI New Jersey, the Korean-American Association of New Jersey, the Korean Community Center and MinKwon Center for Community Action released a joint statement after the footage was released, saying in part:
"Victoria Lee should be alive today. The footage and recordings released by the NJ Attorney General's Office confirm what the Lee family has already shared with the world: that in a matter of minutes, the Fort Lee Police shot and killed Victoria, who was in no way a threat to anyone, as her mother watched helplessly."
"They were doing everything right. They were doing something that can be very hard for Asian-American families, which is to seek help during a mental health crisis for a loved one," said Amber Reed, co-executive director of AAPI NJ.
Matthew Shapiro, associate director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness New York State, says a mental health professional could have helped this response.
"I think maybe if they had taken a little more time in that situation to try to bring in a different type of professional who could have communicated with her more effectively, we could have seen a better result," he said.
At a press conference earlier this week, advocates called for major change in how mental health crises are treated.
"Mental health crisis require understanding and appropriate intervention, not violence. This tragedy underscores the urgent need to improve police training and response protocols for dealing with individuals facing mental health issues," said Adrian Lee, president of the Korean-American Association of New Jersey.
Lee's family said they're seeking justice for her death. The attorney general's office says the investigation is ongoing.