Body-cam shows deadly Phoenix police shooting man armed with samurai sword
By: 0:00 - Intro
0:18 - 911 calls
2:29 - Surveillance video
3:06 - Body cam
3:24 - Outro with sword picture
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A new graphic body-cam video shows a man running at Phoenix officers while swinging a samurai sword before being shot and killed earlier this month. The suspect, 40-year-old Aaron Baughman, was shot near a Phoenix police precinct at 39th Avenue and Cactus Road on Sept. 10.
Police received a 911 call from a witness about Baughman carrying the sword. “There’s a guy. There’s a guy with a samurai sword,” the man said. The man told the dispatcher Baughman was hitting the police station fence near the employee gate. “He’s not really damaging it, but he’s trying to,” he said. The dispatcher seemed to be in disbelief during the call. “He’s swinging a samurai sword?” she asked. “That’s wild.”
Another 911 call came in from a neighbor by the precinct. “There’s a guy outside with a samurai sword hitting the fence and stabbing through the fence where the police pull into park their vehicles,” the man said. “I just drove by there and I honked at the guy and he was stabbing through the fence.”
Officers arrived when Baughman began to walk toward them. However, a portion of the body-cam video doesn’t have sound, so it’s unknown if Baughman said anything to officers. Police say officers told Baughman to drop the sword, but he didn’t listen. Instead, Baughman appeared to run toward officers before one of them shot him.
After the shooting, another man drives up and gets out of his car. “What are you doing? Get away!” an officer yells as the man walks toward Baughman. Officers yell at the man, and he stops walking. He was then detained, and police later found out he was Baughman’s father. Baughman was taken to the hospital, but later died. No officers were hurt.