FREDERICK COUNTY, Md. — After Frederick police shot a 23-year-old dead in November, the Independent Investigations Division of the Office of the Attorney General has released the body-worn camera footage of the incident.
On Nov. 29, police arrived to a local home in the 5800 block of Haller Place after they say they were called by the suspect's sister. She reported her brother, Aaron Mensah, was "attacking and stabbing" their parents.
Police arrived on the scene around 2 a.m. on that Tuesday, found two people suffering from stab wounds, and began work to save them. The pair were later identified as Mensah's mother and father.
Three more deputies arrived on the scene and claim to have found Mensah in the 5800 block of Zoe Lane after he left the Haller Place home sometime earlier. The Fredrick County Sheriff's deputies were not wearing body cameras; the footage begins when an assisting officer from the Frederick Police Department arrived.
In the video, officers can be heard speaking with the man, telling him to "drop the knife" and "we do not want to have to shoot you." One officer reportedly used a beanbag shotgun round on Mensah and multiple other officers claiming to have used their tasers when he was charging at the officers. When he did not stop, three deputies shot Mensah. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Graphic Warning: The full body camera footage as released by law enforcement can be seen here. The content may be disturbing to viewers.
A sound difference can be heard in the video of the initial non-lethal options used, versus the bullets that ultimately killed him. Mensah was reportedly armed at the time of the shooting, according to sheriff's office spokesperson Todd Wivell. A clear view of Mensah running at the officers, and what is or isn't in his hands, is obscured by the hands of the officer wearing the body camera. In a secondary version of the video that is slowed down and paused at various points with red circles edited over the footage, appears to show a gun being pulled out from underneath Mensah's body while officers handcuff him.
No officers were injured.
Mensah's father was taken to an area hospital where he ultimately died. The mother was taken by helicopter to R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma for treatment. The sheriff's office described her injuries at the time as superficial. No officers were injured responding to the scene.
