Arlington police release 911 call, bodycam footage from fatal shooting of man weilding knife
ARLINGTON — New bodycam footage and 911 audio reveal what happened when Arlington police officers shot and killed a man last week.
The shooting happened at an apartment complex in North Arlington near the intersection of North Collins Street and Green Oaks Boulevard on April 25.
According to police, a man called 911, saying he stabbed another man to death. The caller was later identified as 31-year-old Michael Bassey.
Bassey called 911 twice in the span of one minute. In the first call, he told dispatch "I'm going to kill him" and "you know what to do."
In the second call, he asked what the response time was and that he killed someone named Michael because "he was talking too much" and then "I took the knife from the kitchen and I stabbed him."
Bodycam footage showed Bassey running towards police with the knife in his hand. In the video, police are heard telling Bassey to drop the knife before he was shot, falling to the ground. After he fell, he got up and ran away.
Police chased Bassey on foot, continuing to ask him to drop the knife. Bassey then charged toward officers again with the knife. Another officer then deployed a Taser, causing Bassey to fall over. He continued running into a field, where police were able to take the knife from his hands and detain him.
Officers noticed he had a gunshot wound and performed life-saving measures until paramedics arrived. He had one gunshot wound, although the officer who shot him fired their gun twice.
He was taken to a local hospital where he died, police said.
"I believe every officer who responded to this call made every effort to de-escalate the situation," Arlington Police Chief Al Jones said.
Jones said officers checked the apartment for stabbing victims, but there was no one inside. They also checked local emergency rooms, but there were no stabbing victims. Jones said he doesn't believe Bassey stabbed anyone, despite his 911 calls.
No police officers were injured.
The police officer who fired his weapon is on paid administrative leave while the investigation is ongoing.
