Knoxville — Many had questions following an officer-involved shooting in Knoxville that killed a woman.
According to the Knox County Sheriff's Office, 23-year-old Sierra McCauley had a large 'military-style' knife when she was shot and killed by a Knoxville Police Officer.
It happened on Haywood Avenue in South Knoxville.
The post on the WBIR Facebook page about Monday's shooting in Knoxville reached more than 53 thousand people.
Many in the comments asked: Why could the officer not use a taser?
KPD says 23-year veteran officer James Gadd fired at the knife-wielding woman 'in defense of his life' after dispatch had been called saying the woman had been cutting herself and had cut another person.
Dr. Jeff Lindsey, the Program Manager at UT's Law Enforcement Innovation Center in Oak Ridge, says every agency's goal is to have their officers be confident and competent in their training.
"Tasers are designed to give officers the option, when appropriate, and when that officer believes it's practical to use an intermediate weapon, or an intermediate use of force," Lindsey said.
Another question from our Facebook post--Dante Booth asked: What is a military-style knife?
A spokesperson for KPD explained it was a fixed blade weapon like the KA-BAR combat and utility knife used primarily by U.S. Marines during World War II.
"It doesn't matter whether it's a butter knife, it doesn't matter whether it's a machete, it doesn't matter whether it's a stick, it doesn't matter if it's a rock," Lindsey said. "At that particular time, if that officer feels that the threat is imminent to someone else or themselves--that's what the training focuses on."
Holly King encouraged everyone to put themselves in an officers' shoes when someone pulls a weapon on you.
Lindsey says because it's such a pressure-filled situation, shooting someone to wound them is hard to do.
"That type of precision, doesn't go completely out the window, they need to use the fundamentals of marksmanship, but it's very difficult to get those precise shots," Lindsey said.