SWAT body camera captures dramatic scene of hostage standoff

Published March 29, 2017

This undated photo provided by the Baltimore Police Department shows Reno Owens, who was homeless. Police say an officer fatally shot Owens on Friday, March 24, 2017, during a hostage standoff in which Owens, armed with a butcher knife, refused to release a 1-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl. (Baltimore Police Department via AP) (The Associated Press)

In video from a body camera, a Baltimore SWAT supervisor orders an officer to kill a man holding two young children hostage with a knife.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis showed the graphic footage of the recent standoff at a Baltimore rowhome to reporters Tuesday.

It was the latest of three officer shootings recorded by body cameras since the city rolled them out last year. About 900 officers now wear the cameras daily.

Davis said the officers showed courage under pressure and stressed such commands from SWAT supervisors are "not uncommon" in deadly situations. But seldom are such exchanges recorded by cameras.

The video shows a SWAT team sergeant outside the house where authorities had been unsuccessfully pleading for nearly an hour for 39-year-old Reno Owens to release a 1-year-old boy and 4-year-old girl.

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