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OKLAHOMA CITY –Body camera footage has been released following an officer-involved shooting in a southeast Oklahoma City neighborhood in March. Just after 6 p.m. on March 10, Oklahoma City police were called to a report of a group of people breaking into a home near S.E. 59th and Bryant. The caller told 911 dispatchers that two of the alleged suspects were armed with guns. When officers arrived in the area, they say they heard what sounded like gunshots. As they reached the backyard of the home, they found an alleged suspect with a gun. Authorities say they ordered the suspect to drop the gun. “The suspect did not comply with these orders and the officer shot one time, at least one time, hitting this individual,” Capt. Bo Mathews, with the Oklahoma City Police Department, told News 4 in March. Officials say the suspect, who is 14-years-old, suffered non-life threatening injuries. On Tuesday, officials with the Oklahoma City Police Department released body camera footage from the incident. Warning: Video may be disturbing to some viewers.
The video started recording as Sgt. Kyle Holcomb got out of his patrol car and walked toward the house, and the sound of shots being fired could be heard in the background. “I think it’s a cap gun, but they are shooting something off,” Sgt. Kyle Holcomb is heard saying on his body camera footage. As Holcomb reached an open spot in the fence, he spotted the teenage suspect. “Show me your hands! Drop it!” Holcomb is heard saying just moments before he opened fire. The officers are seen going to the side of the house, holding several of the teenage suspects at gunpoint. Holcomb can be heard asking the teenager if anyone was hit, but the responses have been edited out of the video. He is then heard calling for fire and EMSA units, saying that one person had been hit. District Attorney David Prater sent News 4 the following statement after clearing Sgt. Holcomb of any wrongdoing:
“Police Officers are not required to be shot before they can exercise deadly force to defend themselves.  Sgt. Holcomb observed what he believed to be a burglary suspect exit from a rear window of the residence.  The suspect who exited the window had an object in his hand that appeared to be a firearm.  The suspect turned toward Sgt. Holcomb with the weapon in his hand and Holcomb shot the suspect in self-defense.  A person in the shoes of Sgt. Holcomb would have had a reasonable belief that they were in imminent threat of being shot.  Sgt. Holcomb’s use of deadly force to defend himself was justified and lawful.”