Nashville police release bodycam video after officer shoots, kills stabbing suspect

Nashville police released body camera footage Thursday afternoon after an officer killed a man suspected of injuring his brother with a knife that morning at a Bellevue apartment.

Three officers responded to the Bellevue West apartments after 4 a.m. when a 27-year-old man called 911 to report his younger brother, later identified as Max Van Sickle, held a knife to his throat and cut him, department spokesman Don Aaron said during a news conference.

The victim, who has not been identified, told 911 dispatchers that Van Sickle cut him while attempting to stab him at the complex. He said Van Sickle was "huffing" something and having a manic episode before he was able to take a substance from Van Sickle and hide.

After the officers found the victim, who'd fled the apartment and run down a nearby hill, they confronted Van Sickle in what Aaron described as a dark breezeway. The suspect came at the officers with knife in hand and was within feet of them when one of the officers fired his gun.

More: Nashville police officer kills stabbing suspect at Bellevue apartment

Van Sickle was pronounced dead at the scene.

His brother was treated for non-life-threatening wounds and released from a local hospital by 8 a.m.

What the body camera footage shows

Edited footage released by Metro Police around 1 p.m. Thursday shows officers searching for Van Sickle around 4:20 a.m. when he appears on a staircase above them.

In the light of their flashlights, the suspect is shirtless and holding a knife in his left hand as he bounds down the stairs.

Content warning, this video contains graphic language and footage of gun violence.

Three officers are shown in the footage. They were later identified as Jonathan Scull, George Poulos and Ben Mincer. All three have been placed on routine administrative assignment pending an investigation, Aaron said.

As Van Sickle moves downstairs, Scull, Poulos and Mincer began shouting for him to stop.

Scull, an officer who moved to Nashville in 2022 after seven years with San Diego police, fired about four shots, fatally wounding Van Sickle when the suspect did not follow the officers' commands, Aaron said.

Body camera footage shows Van Sickle descending the stairs with his right hand on the stairwell railing and his left hand, holding the knife with the blade at a downward angle, braced against the exterior wall of apartment complex.

Poulos and Mincer had Tasers drawn but did not use them because of Van Sickle's quick appearance and threat, Aaron said.

As officers shouted for him stop, Van Sickle continued down the stairs and turned his back to them as he was shot, the footage shows. He fell down multiple steps, to the bottom of the breezeway, where he was later pronounced dead.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is conducting an inquiry into the shooting. The findings will be reviewed by MNPD and the Davidson County District Attorney's Office, Aaron said.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville cops shoot man who ran at officers with knife, footage shows