Body-camera and surveillance footage released by the Eaton County Sheriff’s Office in Michigan appeared to show a suspect running at a deputy before he was shot.
The body-camera footage showed the suspect getting very close to the deputy before trying to grab her. She then opened fire as the suspect dropped his knife before he tried to pick it up again.
At one point, it appears her gun jammed before she fired again as the suspect attempted to grab the weapon from the ground.
Officials told local media that the deputy, who worked in the sheriff’s office for 23 years, feared for her life during the encounter. She wasn’t injured.
“(It is) very unfortunate that she had to use her weapon, but she saved her life,” Sheriff Tom Reiche told ClickonDetroit. “That’s the most important thing here.”
He said the suspect, Sean Ruis, appeared to be carrying three weapons as he approached the deputy. He had one screwdriver in his left hand and two knives in his right hand, the sheriff said.
Authorities said Ruis had fled the scene of a prior stabbing that occurred at a Quality Dairy store in Dimondale about an hour before. He is accused of stabbing a 77-year-old man during an argument after Ruis refused to wear a mask inside the store.
“Our thoughts and prayers are for the full recovery of the victim who was stabbed at the Quality Dairy and for his family, and are with our Deputy who was subsequently violently attacked,” Sheriff Reich said in a press release. “They are also with the family of Mr. Ruis who was killed in this senseless, tragic incident.”
The video can be viewed below (Warning: Graphic):
