A Black Louisiana cop was ruled justified in the shooting death of a white woman who was shown on bodycam video coming at him with a pair of scissors after at least six warnings to put them down.
Shannon Rupert, 45, of Shreveport was standing behind a lobby desk at a motel when Bossier police officer Patrick Edmonds Jr. and another cop called to the LaQuinta Inn on a complaint of a disorderly person arrived at about 5:45 a.m. Oct. 25, according to a news release from Bossier City Police.
Video police provided to Atlanta Black Star Monday showed the woman on a phone and pointing scissors at Edmonds.
“Hey! Hey! Get off the phone,” he was shown yelling.
The woman continued her conversation a few feet from the desk she was standing behind.
“Ma’am, put those scissors down,” Edmonds said.
“You’re going to have to shoot me, n—a,” she responded.
“Put those scissors down,” Edmonds said.
“You’re not taking them. Shoot me. You’re not taking them. Shoot me,” Rupert said. “You’re going to have to shoot me.”
Rupert, still with scissors in her hand, walked to the desk, and appeared to be reaching for something on it when the officer was shown aiming a gun at her.
“Hey! Put those f—ing scissors down,” Edmonds said.
“You’re going to have to shoot me,” Rupert responded.
“Put those scissors down,” Edmonds said.
The woman continued yelling expletives at the officer, pacing from side to side and waving scissors.
“F–k you,” she said.
She then proceeded to walk around the lobby desk and approach the officer.
“Hey! If you come over here, I will kill you,” Edmonds warned the woman.
“OK, kill me,” she said and kept walking.
At that point, Edmonds was shown firing the gun twice. Rupert fell to the ground and grunted.
“Drop the scissors,” the officer shouted. “Drop the scissors.”
Edmunds was heard reporting the shooting on his police radio.
“Shots fired. Shots fired. White female on the ground, still got scissors in her hands. Shots fired. Shots fired.”
He told the woman two more times to drop the scissors and told a bystander on the scene to “get out.”
“Ma’am, drop the scissors please. Drop the scissors, ma’am, please. Drop them. Drop them,” Edmunds told the woman.
He also radioed in to get the fire department en route before the video footage cut off.
Edmonds joined the Bossier City Police Department in May of 2018 and is assigned to the Patrol Division, police said.
He was put on administrative leave in the incident but has since been cleared in an investigation by the Bossier City Police Department and a subsequent review by the Bossier Parish District Attorney’s Office.
“Based on all evidence reviewed it is my firm opinion that no crime was committed by the officer as his actions constituted justifiable homicide,” District Attorney J. Schuyler Marvin said in a letter to the police chief.
“The circumstances confronting this officer were such that a reasonable belief existed that he was in imminent danger of losing his life or suffering great bodily harm, and the discharge of his firearm was necessary for the prevention of a possibly lethal threat,” Marvin added.
