A woman in Bossier City, Louisiana was shot and killed two weeks ago by police officers after she charged at them while yelling slurs.
According to video from the scene, 45-year-old Shannon Rupert threatened Black officer Patrick Edmonds Jr., who repeatedly asked her to put down a pair of scissors that she had been wielding at other people in a hotel lobby.
“You’re going to have to shoot me, n****r. You’re not taking them. Shoot me,” she said before running at Edmonds.
He shot her twice, killing her. The local police department cleared Edmonds of any wrongdoing after viewing footage from his bodycam (The video has not been included due to graphic content).
The situation started on October 25, when someone called the cops around 6 a.m. at a LaQuinta Inn. The 911 caller said Rupert was walking around the lobby of the hotel with a pair of scissors screaming on the phone.
A statement from the police said, “The officer gave multiple verbal commands to Rupert to put down the weapon. Rupert then aggressively approached the officer with scissors in hand. The officer fired two rounds from his department-issued handgun, striking Rupert in the upper torso.”
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The District Attorney released a statement saying Edmonds did everything he was supposed to do. He was placed on administrative leave after the shooting and will have to stay on leave until the final investigation is completed by the Internal Affairs Division.
In an interview with local news outlet KSLA 12, Rupert’s cousin, Melinda Peterson, asked why didn’t the police use a taser instead of lethal force, but admitted that Rupert had a long history of drug abuse.
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“I knew she had been into drugs really bad. I tried helping her. I tried talking to her to see if maybe we could get her some help, a recourse. Getting her into rehab or anything like that. She was just out of it,” she said.
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