KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Editor's Note: Footage from the shooting is available below. It shows graphic details from when Shilo M. Rice was shot. While some moments are blurred, there are visible wounds as officers approach Rice. The content is disturbing, and viewer discretion is advised.
On June 20, at around 7:17 a.m., three officers with the Knoxville Police Department responded to calls about a woman armed with a knife who was threatening to harm herself and others on Belle Terra Road.
That woman was later identified as Shilo M. Rice, 49. She was fatally shot by all three officers after she ran towards them with a knife. On July 1, KPD released bodycam footage from the shooting.
It starts with the three officers walking down the road, surrounded by multi-family buildings and cars parked along the street. They began approaching one of the homes after searching for the correct building number. As they search for the building, one officer appears to have his gun drawn.
"I can hear someone yelling in there," one officer said.
The group stops in the road as an officer points at something in the distance. An officer then shouts out with his weapon still drawn.
"Hi," he said.
All three then raise their guns as Rice appears from near one of the homes' doors. In the footage, she is a few car lengths away from the officers, and all three begin shouting for her to stop. The video shows her charging towards the officers with a knife in her hand.
"Don't do it! Don't do it! Don't you do it! Don't do it! Don't do it!" one of the officers said.
She then appears over a small hill with her arm raised above her head, knife in hand. She is around a single car length away from the officers when one of them fires, followed by the other two firing their weapons.
Rice falls to the ground while the guns continue going off.
"Please stay down," one officer said.
The video shows them as they stop firing their weapons and order her to stay on the ground. One officer orders her to show them her hands. She begins scrambling around on the ground and grabs the knife she dropped.
Rice then starts standing back up, knife in hand. Officers fire their guns again, and she falls on her back. One officer reloads his gun and the group begins ordering her to stay down. She appears to try and stand up again, before collapsing.
"Shiloh, stay down. Please stay down," one officer said.
They order her to toss the knife away as she stops moving. They then approach her by her side, keeping their guns trained on her. Then, they walk up towards her and begin giving medical aid around 30 seconds after the last shot was fired.
One officer runs back to a KPD cruiser and retrieves what appears to be a medical kit and they start evaluating where she was shot. Rice was taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is looking into the shooting, and KPD said its Office of Professional Standards would also conduct an internal investigation.