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Video shows man pointing metal object at Nashville police before they fired

Nashville Police Department body cam video captured the fatal shooting of  Landon Estep after a standoff on Interstate 65 on Wednesday. Screen shot courtesy of Nashville Police Department
Nashville Police Department body cam video captured the fatal shooting of  Landon Estep after a standoff on Interstate 65 on Wednesday. Screen shot courtesy of Nashville Police Department

Jan. 28 (UPI) -- A Nashville police video released Thursday night shows a 37-year-old man pulling out an object and suddenly pointing it at police officers before he was fatally shot.

Landon Estep was in a standoff with several officers Thursday on Interstate 65 before he pulled out the object and was fired on by nine officers.

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For at least 30 minutes before the shooting, an off-duty Mt. Juliet officer who stopped to assist pleaded with Estep to drop a box cutter he was holding, saying repeatedly officers did not want to hurt him.

"Nine law enforcement personnel fired their weapons after Estep took a stance as if he had a firearm," Metro Nashville Police Department spokesman Don Aaron said.

Aaron said the "metal, cylindrical" object was not a firearm. But police body cam video showed Estep pulling out the object and pointing it at officers as if it were a gun.

The standoff with Estep began when a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer saw him sitting on an I-65 guardrail and stopped to investigate.

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A so-far unnamed officer stopped to assist the highway patrol trooper before Nashville Police Department officers arrived on the scene.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting.

Of the nine officers who fired their weapons, two were from the highway patrol, one was from Mt. Juliet and six were from Nashville.

All six Nashville officers were placed on administrative leave as the the Nashville District Attorney investigate.

All six Nashville officers are on administrative leave as the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Nashville district attorney investigate.

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