US

Bodycam Footage Shows Police Fatally Shooting Mentally Ill Man Armed With Gun After Standoff

[Youtube:Screenshot:Metropolitan Nashville Police Department]

Brianna Lyman News and Commentary Writer
Font Size:

Police in Nashville released bodycam footage and 9-1-1 audio Sunday showing the moments leading up to the fatal shooting of a mentally ill man who was armed with a gun Saturday.

The incident unfolded around 2:30 p.m. when a woman called to report her son, 23-year-old Jacob Griffin, was homeless, armed and dangerous, according to Don Aaron, a spokesman for the Metro Nashville Police Department and released 9-1-1 audio.

“He is schizophrenic, and for about the last hour has been texting me messages that he plans to kill me and other people,” Karen Griffin told dispatchers. Karen told officers her son lived behind a local Goodwill, where he had been fired from months ago.

“He does have a gun,” she continued. “He has texted me pictures of a full magazine of bullets this morning, so he is armed. And I personally would consider him dangerous, but he has never actually been violent. I really don’t want the police to kill him but I don’t want him to kill anyone else either.” (RELATED: Man Shot By Police After Going On Shooting Rampage, Seemingly Killed People At Random)

Two officers found Griffin in the woods behind a local Goodwill store around 3:30 p.m., where Griffin allegedly told officers he had a gun, according to Aaron. One of the responding officers deployed a taser which was ineffective, Aaron said, noting the initial interaction was not recorded because police were not wearing equipment with bodycameras.

SWAT officers and more police officers arrived on the scene around 4:10 p.m., Aaron said. By 5:15 p.m., mobile crisis staff from a mental health group also arrived on the scene, according to Aaron.

“The first step in this is all up to you, and that’s just to walk out here without that pistol,” one officer can be heard saying.

As officers attempted to negotiate with Griffin, he screamed to officers, “I am a hypnotist. Get off my property!”

One officer tells Griffin “can’t go away buddy,” according to bodycam footage.

Around 7:20 p.m., Griffin fired a shot but dropped the gun, according to Aaron. An officer can be seen raising his gun toward Griffin.

“Get that fucking gun out of my fucking face,” Griffin can be heard screaming.

“You can’t be playing with the gun, don’t pick it up,” an officer can be heard saying.

“You need to understand you just upped up the game, Jacob,” an officer can be heard saying.

Aaron said officers decided to try to move in and distract Griffin around 7:30 p.m., as daylight began to wane. Officers sent in a police canine before approaching Griffin.

“Show me your hands, show me your hands,” SWAT officer Matthew Grindstaff can be heard yelling. “Where’s the gun?”

Griffin allegedly then fired a shot, prompting Grindstaff to return fire. Griffin was taken to Vanderbilt University Hospital where he later died, according to Aaron. No officers were injured.

The shooting is under investigation.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel