The Phoenix Police Department released the video of the fatal shooting of former football player Ekom Udofia that occurred on Nov. 30.
The 33-year-old played for the NFL’s New Orleans Saints, the Cincinnati Bengals, and Stanford University, the Hill reported. (RELATED: New Body Cam Footage Reveals Important Details In Ahmaud Arbery Shooting)
The incident began at 2 am on Nov. 30 when 911 received a report of Udofia behaving eccentrically from someone who drove through Indian School Road and 23rd Avenue in Phoenix, Arizona, according to the Police Department’s briefing.
WATCH:
Udofia was “trying to jump” on every vehicle that drove by, attempting to “hit” the cars “with his body,” the caller who reported Udofia’s strange behavior said, according to the recording included in the Police’s video. The caller also mentioned that Udofia appeared to be “on drugs.”
When officers Ryan Hoffrichter, Lance Wisuri, Nathaniel Hansen and Steve Mead arrived at the scene, they found Udofia, matching the caller’s description, wielding a gun, later discovered to be a BB-gun, 35 ft away, according to the video. Udofia, ignoring the officers’ instructions to drop his weapon, kept approaching the Police car’s front bumper, the video shows.
Critical Incident: Video from an officer involved shooting on Nov. 30th in the area of 23rd Ave./Indian School Rd. Officers responded to a man acting strange and jumping on vehicles. He refused to comply with officers to drop his gun.
Full story: https://t.co/3QLZpDYNXT pic.twitter.com/ZSZhourdnW
— Phoenix Police (@PhoenixPolice) December 14, 2020
“Please drop the gun, man,” an officer is heard warning Udofia in a released bodycam recording, “Do not make me shoot you.”
A few moments later, the cops are firing at Udofia, who didn’t comply, the video showed. Udofia did not drop his weapon after being shot despite warnings, only doing so after additional officers arrived and used stun bags and baton rounds, according to the video.
Udofia was suffering from “mental health” issues, USA Today reported. “He was smart, respectful, a team player, all the things you would want from a player,” Ron Estabrook, a former head coach at Chaparral who worked with Udofia, told USA Today.