In this frame grab from body camera video provided by the Montgomery County Department of Police, taken Thursday, May 7, 2020, Montgomery County Police Sgt. David Cohen aims and shoots Finan H. Berhe, as Berhe, holding a knife, charges at Cohen, after the officer had ordered Berhe to drop the knife and get down on the ground, in the White Oak area of Montgomery County, Md. Berhe died at a hospital, police said. No officers were injured. (Montgomery County Department of Police via AP)
Maryland police have released body camera footage of an officer fatally shooting a man who rushed toward him with a knife.
The shooting happened Thursday in White Oak, just outside Washington.
The officer involved in the shooting was identified as Montgomery County Police Sgt. David Cohen. The department released the video Friday.
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“Put the knife down!” Cohen, with his gun drawn, is heard screaming as the man runs toward him and then stops before backing away.
“Get on the ground! I don’t want to shoot you!” Cohen shouts just before the man starts running at him a second time.
Moments later, the officer shoots the man in the chest. Five gunshots can be heard on the video.
Authorities identified the man who was shot as Finan Berhe, 30, of White Oak.
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Police said the knife Berhe was brandishing was recovered at the scene.
A neighbor of Berhe’s had called 911 to report that Berhe had thrown a rock at his window and had told him “to call the police,” The Washington Post reported.
Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones said Cohen rendered first aid to Berhe, who died at the hospital, the paper reported.
Prosecutors from neighboring Howard County, under a standing agreement to review each other’s police shootings, are investigating, according to the paper. Berhe was black; the officer is white.
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Cohen, a 17-year veteran of the department, was placed on administrative leave, a standard procedure after a police shooting.
