Metro Nashville Police have released body camera footage from a Thursday police-involved shooting, when officers fatally shot a man who was walking along a Nashville interstate armed with a box cutter, authorities said.
Landon Eastep, 37, was agitated and was carrying the blade in his left hand, a spokesperson for the Metro Nashville Police Department and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) said. The deadly encounter shut down traffic on a normally bustling travel corridor in Tennessee, Fox News reported.
The encounter began shortly before 2 p.m. local time, when a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper first spotted Eastep on the shoulder of the interstate. Officers tried for about a half-hour to deescalate the situation. They pleaded with the man to drop the box cutter and keep his hands in sight.
Nine officers from three agencies fired at the man when he quickly pulled an unknown "silver, shiny cylindrical object" from his right pocket, Metro Nashville Police Department spokesman Don Aaron said. He said he did not know what the object was but said it was not a firearm.
In the video, Eastep appears to present the object in a firing position as if it was a handgun.
The TBI is investigating the shooting.
