CNN
—
Body camera footage was released Friday showing the fatal police shooting of Victoria Lee. The 25-year-old woman had called 911 for medical help during a mental health crisis last month in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
According to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, at least five Fort Lee police officers responded to the family’s home on July 28. Unable to get in, one of the officers forced open the apartment door, according to footage of the incident released by the Attorney General’s Office.
According to footage, a police officer shot Lee in the chest, killing her, within five seconds of breaking down her front door.
Before her mental health crisis, Lee was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Henry Cho, a lawyer for Lee’s family, said at a news conference on Tuesday. Lee was “harmless,” Cho said.
“Despite their efforts to prevent escalation and clearly communicate their non-violent nature, police responded aggressively, forcibly entering the apartment and shooting Victoria, who was holding a plastic water jug at the time,” Cho said.
The investigation into the incident comes amid growing criticism of how police across the country respond to mental health crises. Just three weeks before Lee’s shooting, Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old black woman from Illinois who had called 911 for help, was also shot in her home. The day before Massey’s killing, her mother called 911 and said her daughter was having a nervous breakdown but was not dangerous.
Adrian Lee, president of the Korean American Association of New Jersey, said at Tuesday’s press conference that the shooting “underscores the urgent need to improve police training and response protocols when dealing with individuals with mental health issues.”
“Mental health crises require understanding and appropriate intervention, not violence,” he said. Advocacy groups also expressed concern that the shooting of Lee, who is Asian, could make New Jersey’s Asian community fearful of seeking mental health help.
After the shooting claimed the young woman’s life, Lee’s family is looking for answers.
“Victoria was a loved one with a bright future and her loss is immeasurable. The Lee family is determined to seek justice and ensure the full truth of this tragic event comes to light,” Cho said.
The fatal police shooting is still being investigated, the Attorney General’s Office said on Friday.
CNN has reached out to Fort Lee police for comment. CNN has also attempted to reach Cho and contacted the Bergen County Coroner’s Office.
On the night of the shooting, Lee’s brother made two 911 calls.
“Her brother Chris called 911 twice and requested an ambulance, emphasizing her mental state and the presence of a small pocket knife that she used to open packages,” Cho said.
In his first call, he reported that his sister was having a mental health crisis and wanted to be taken to a local hospital by ambulance. When he was told that the paramedics would be accompanied by a police officer, he asked that the police not come. However, the dispatcher told him that the police presence was necessary for the safety of the paramedics, according to an audio recording of the 911 call released by the Attorney General’s Office.
Lee’s brother then called 911 a second time and asked to cancel the first call, but was told that this was not possible during mental health crises and that police would arrive shortly. The operator asked Lee’s brother why he wanted to cancel the call, and he replied that his sister had a knife but was not threatening anyone, according to the audio recording.
“She’s just holding the knife,” he said, adding that it was a “folding” knife.
Video shows history and consequences
From four different angles, some pixelated or blurred, the footage shows the moments leading up to the fatal shooting, as police responded to the incident at Lee’s home around 1:25 a.m. ET.
Bodycam footage shows a Fort Lee police officer arriving at the family’s home and Lee’s brother opening the door. The officer asks if he is the person “struggling with mental health crisis” and the one with the knife, to which Lee’s brother responds that the person is his sister.
The door is opened again by a woman identified by the Attorney General’s Office as Lee’s mother, holding a barking dog. Lee appears in the background and tells her to “shut the damn door” as she reaches over her mother and closes the door.
Shortly afterwards, at least four more officers arrive.
The first officer yells that he is going to break down the door, and in the video a person identified by the Attorney General’s Office as Lee can be heard yelling, “Go on, I’m going to stab you in the damn neck.”
One officer reaches for his weapon but stops to grab Lee’s brother and escort him away. Another officer intervenes and escorts Lee’s brother away from the apartment door.
“We don’t want to shoot you, we want to help you,” another officer can be heard saying in the footage.
“Go home, pig,” Lee replies.
In a police video, Fort Lee officers can be heard discussing “who wants to be lethal” and “who wants to be less lethal.” At least two officers, including the officer who shot Lee, say they will “be lethal.” At least one officer says he will not be lethal.
Another officer tells the group that someone will get tools to open the door and adds: “It’s usually barricaded. We’re waiting, but there’s someone inside. We have to leave.”
The officer who shot Lee is then seen attempting to break down the door by slamming his body into it while yelling “Open the door.” Other officers yell at Lee to drop his gun and they will break down the door.
When the door opens, the footage shows Lee and her mother in the doorway. Lee can also be seen walking toward the door with a large blue water jug in her hand.
The footage shows an officer using a police shield in Lee’s direction.
“Drop the knife,” an officer shouted.
According to a press release from the Attorney General’s Office, a knife was recovered at the scene. It is not clear from the footage whether Lee was holding the knife when officers opened the door. Cho said Lee dropped the knife before officers entered the apartment.
The Attorney General’s Office said Lee was walking toward officers when she was fatally shot.
After Lee was shot and lying on the ground, an officer repeatedly yelled for her to put the knife down and then continued to ask where the knife was, to which someone responded “here.” The four body camera videos do not show whether Lee was holding a knife when she was shot.
The officer who shot Lee drags her by her feet into the hallway while asking her if she’s OK and to show officers where she was shot, footage shows. One officer can be heard yelling for towels.
Lee was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead at about 1:58 a.m., authorities said.
“The family is deeply concerned about the unnecessary use of deadly force by the police,” Cho said Tuesday.
Following the fatal shooting, advocacy groups called the actions of Fort Lee police officers “abhorrent” and called for investment in more culturally competent mental health services.
““Words cannot describe our sadness and anger,” AAPI New Jersey said Friday in a joint statement with AAPI New Jersey, the Korean-American Association of New Jersey, the Korean Community Center and the MinKwon Center for Community Action.
The group expressed concern that the killing would further discourage Asian American families from seeking mental health help for a loved one, which can already be a difficult task for the community.
“For many reasons, it can be difficult for Asian Americans to access mental health support,” AAPI said. “We are deeply concerned about the impact of this incident and other devastating incidents on Asian Americans’ willingness to seek medical care when they need it.”
The groups’ statement after the footage was released said Lee “should still be alive today.”
“The footage and recordings released by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office confirm what the Lee family has already told the world: Within minutes, Fort Lee police shot and killed Victoria, who posed no threat to anyone, while her mother watched helplessly,” the statement said.
“New Jersey cannot continue to be a state that routinely kills people in mental health crises because we have not acted with the resolve or urgency that our most vulnerable residents and their loved ones deserve,” the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice wrote in a post on X.
