Video from nine police car cameras captured the moment when police officers shot and killed a 24-year-old man in December 2015, and the footage supports previous police accounts of the fatal shooting.
The videos, obtained by the Times Free Press, show Chattanooga officers repeatedly telling Javario Eagle to put down his gun on Dec. 12, 2015. Police initially responded to the home after Eagle called 911 and ranted for nine minutes to the dispatcher, repeatedly saying, "They're killing our kids, man! They're killing our kids!"
Officer Kevin Cobb, the first to arrive at the scene, quickly asked for a specially trained mental health officer to help handle the situation. Then Eagle, who had been ducking in and out of the house, emerged with a gun.
Eagle ignored more than 40 commands to put the gun down over the course of eight minutes. He went in and out of the house with his 4-year-old daughter.
At one point, Eagle went into his house and officers tried to coax the girl away from him.
"Come on, baby, come on baby!" Cobb shouted.
In the videos, the girl starts toward the officers but stops halfway. Sgt. Bryan Churchwell then holsters his weapon, moves from behind a tree, runs to the girl, picks her up and runs away with her in his arms.
As Churchwell ran with the girl, Eagle came out of the house and started toward the officer. Ten seconds after Churchwell grabbed the girl, Officer Lorin Johnston fired one shot and hit Eagle, who fell to the ground. Multiple officers then rushed toward Eagle.
As officers approached, they said Eagle pointed his gun at them. Six officers then fired 18 shots. Eagle was hit eight times and did not survive. He was armed with a sword, bayonet and pistol.
The second volley of shots is not clearly seen in the dashcam videos, although officers can be heard shouting, "Get the gun."
The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office investigated the shooting and District Attorney General Neal Pinkston ruled that police used appropriate force. An internal affairs investigation by Chattanooga police also cleared the officers of any wrongdoing.
Police Chief Fred Fletcher said he is proud of how his officers behaved that day. The department is in the process of deploying body cameras to all patrol officers. City council members recently agreed to give $141,000 to fund the effort.
Fletcher said he does not have an exact timeline for when the body cameras will be operational because the process to buy and set up the cameras is extensive.
"I'd love to have it implemented as soon as possible," he said. "But I'd rather do it well than do it quickly."
The shooting death of Eagle, who is black, comes at a time when police killings of black men have gained national attention, in large part because of videos taken by witnesses or police that show the shootings. Shortly after Eagle's death, some in the community spoke out about the shooting, but that movement appeared to lose steam as details of the incident were released to the public.
Maria Haberfeld, professor of police science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said videos are nothing new in most police departments - police have been using dashcam videos for decades - but social media has exponentially expanded the reach of such videos.
"Now it ends up all over," she said.
Just hours after Eagle was killed, a video taken by a bystander spread on social media.
Haberfeld said videos can be an important tool when evaluating use of force, but added that some videos only show pieces of an incident and can be misleading.
"If the use of force appears to be problematic, it can still be justified, but people make very quick judgments about what they think," she said. "I always caution people about over relying on the video because it is truly just a part of it."
Sheriff Jim Hammond said in this case, the dashcam videos gave an unusually complete picture of what happened when officers shot and killed Eagle.
"Rarely do you get that many cameras," he said.
Contact staff writer Shelly Bradbury at 423-757-6525 or sbradbury@timesfreepress.com with tips or story ideas. Follow her on Twitter @ShellyBradbury.