Body camera video and 911 call audio show Philadelphia police show the moments leading to the fatal shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. in October.

Body camera video released Wednesday by Philadelphia police shows the moments leading to the fatal shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. and its emotional aftermath.
Walter Wallace Jr., 27, was shot Oct. 26 after officers responded to a call about a man armed with a knife, police said at the time. Wallaces family has previously said that he struggled with mental health issues, including bipolar disorder, and that they called 911 to request an ambulance in the hopes he would receive medical intervention.
City officials held a news conference Wednesday ahead of the release of body camera video and 911 call audio, warning that it was disturbing and that the family had been consulted prior to its release.
The video footage contains graphic and violent images, and may be intense and traumatic for some to watch, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said. But greater transparency…is necessary in making meaningful changes in our city and to keep our offices, institutions and departments accountable.
Walter Wallace Jr.Courtesy Carnell Hurley
Both the audio and video released Wednesday were edited by the Philadelphia Police Department and approved by the Wallace family.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw announced that it was the first time the department had publicly released body-worn video from an officer-involved shooting. The commissioner also announced planned reforms in regard to mental health calls, in partnership with the citys Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services.
The reforms include expanded crisis intervention training for 911 dispatchers and de-escalation training for officers, officials said. The department is also working to expand its availability to Taser stun devices, which the officers who responded to the Wallace call did not have.
The officers ordered Wallace several times to drop the knife, and he continued to advance towards them, police said last month. They then fired multiple times, shooting him in the chest and shoulder, and he was pronounced dead at the hospital just after 4 p.m., police said.
Police released audio Wednesday of three 911 calls from a neighbor, Wallaces sister and an unidentified man made around 3:45 p.m. Oct. 26. The neighbor asks for police assistance, saying a man next door was fighting with his mother.
The second call released begins with Wallaces sister asking for police, stating that her mother and father were being hit by her brother. The dispatcher asks whether her brother has a weapon.
No, but hes on probation and everything, the woman said. He got a case for being violent and everything. He got a whole record.
When asked whether she needed an ambulance, the woman said her mothers blood pressure was up and that her father felt faint. In the audio released by police, there is no mention of whether Wallace has a mental illness.
A third 911 call was also released in which it sounds like a man asks for help for his mother, but with other chatter and arguments in the background.
The body-cam video picks up outside a residence and appears to show Wallace leaving with something in his hand. Its unclear what happened prior to when the video began.
An officer yells for Wallace to put the knife down now.
No, no, hes mental, a woman screams.
Wallace begins to walk around the street holding what appears to be a knife. Officers are on opposite sides of the block, based on the angles from their cameras. Wallaces mother runs into the street to try and grab her son, but he brushes her aside.
Another man also tries to stop Wallace as officers demand he put the knife down. Wallace is alone in the street when officers begin to fire and he falls to the ground.
At one point in the video, a man can be heard saying shoot him.
After Wallace falls, Wallaces mother rushes to him, yells at officers and appears to throw something at them.
You killed my son, she shouts.
Another woman yells at officers that she told them he was mental.
Two people move to care for Wallace and one officer leaves after his partner tells him to bring a patrol car around to place Wallace inside and rush him to the hospital. The video release ends there.
An attorney for the Wallace family was not immediately available for a request for comment Wednesday evening.
Wallaces death sparked days of heated protest in Philadelphia, with members of the states National Guard deployed and a curfew imposed to deter violence and looting.
The Philadelphia District Attorneys Special Investigations Unit and the Philadelphia Police Departments Officer-Involved Shooting Investigation Unit are looking into Wallace’s shooting. The officers, identified Wednesday as Sean Matterazzo and Thomas Munz, have been provided representation by their union.
The officers have been assigned to restrictive duty pending the investigation, the department said.
John McNesby, president of Philadelphia’s Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 5, said that the union has called for the release of video and audio since the day after the shooting. The union president defended the officers, who he said are being “vilified for doing their job.
Eight days later, city officials held an hourlong press conference casting blame on these officers for this incident in which they were forced to make a split-second decision, McNesby said. This is baseless and not supported by facts.