Dallas police release video of deadly shooting involving knife-wielding man

Dallas police shoot suspect with knives

Body camera video released by the Dallas Police Department shows a suspect with multiple knives approaching a Dallas police officer. After less than lethal force did not deter the man, police shot him.

DALLAS - Dallas police released video of officers fatally shooting a man who they say refused to drop two knives and lunged at an officer.

The suspect, 37-year-old Jake Miller, was likely experiencing a mental health episode.

911 Call and Video Released

VIDEO: Dallas officer shoot suspect armed with knives

The Dallas Police Department released a 911 call and body camera video of the July 9 deadly shooting involving officers who were responding to calls about a man armed with knives.

What's New:

On Monday, Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux released the 911 call and body camera video related to the July 9 shooting.

A neighbor on Fairview Avenue described seeing an armed man who was acting erratically and cutting himself.

"There is a man walking like across the street, and he's walking back and forth with a knife in his hand. And it's like he's literally, he has a shirt in his hands wrapped around one, and he has the knife in the other, and he is walking back and forth," the caller said. "It looks like he's cutting himself. He's cutting himself. Oh my gosh. It looks like he's cutting himself on his arm."

In the video from the responding officers' body-worn cameras, the officers are clearly heard repeatedly ordering 37-year-old Jake Miller to drop his knives.

"Drop the knife! Drop the knife! Drop the knife! Drop the knife! Drop the knife! Drop the f***ing knife!" the officers yelled.

Chief Comeaux said Officer Anthony Pargas, who has been with the department since January, fired four shots at Miller. The video shows Miller running towards Pargas as those shots were fired.

Once Miller was on the ground, the chief said he continued trying to cut himself until the officers were able to kick the knives out of his hands.

Police later learned that Miller lived on Fairview Avenue with a roommate. That roommate was hiding in a vehicle during the incident.

What they're saying:

Dallas police special investigator Lt. Benny Hanley said it does appear that Miller was experiencing a mental health episode at the time of the shooting, although police had no mental health history with him.

"Look, the officers did a phenomenal job out there. They tried to keep everyone safe. They even tried to keep Mr. Miller safe and Mr. Miller left them no choice. Obviously, you can see from the video, he was going to harm our officers and our officers did everything they needed to do at that time and they acted accordingly," Chief Comeaux said.

Dallas Officer-Involved Shooting

Dallas officers fatally shoot knife-wielding man | FULL NEWS CONFERENCE

Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux gives an update and releases video from last week's deadly police shooting that involved a man who was armed with a knife. Callers said the man was cutting himself. He allegedly threatened officers after ignoring commands.

The backstory:

The deadly encounter happened just before 10 a.m. on July 9.

Dallas police officers responded to 911 calls on Fairview Avenue regarding a knife-wielding man in the street. The suspect had reportedly kicked the door of a nearby residence and put a knife to his neck.

Police said when the officers arrived, they gave him loud verbal commands to drop two knives. But he did not drop them.

That’s when officers used less-lethal force, including pepper balls and a stun gun. But those efforts were unsuccessful, leading officers to give more loud verbal commands.