Police body camera footage released Tuesday shows a mother and child being rescued from a Laurel residence during a late November police-involved shooting in which a man was killed.
Howard police said in November that gunfire was exchanged between an armed man, who was pronounced dead at the scene, and officers who responded.
The Independent Investigations Division of the Maryland Attorney General released the footage Tuesday in three short clips taken from body cameras worn by two responding officers and an assisting officer with the tactical team that entered the home and found the man’s body.
The IID investigates instances of police-involved fatalities or injuries likely to lead to a fatality, releasing body camera footage of the incidents within 20 business days. However, the release of the body camera footage for this incident was delayed because the parties involved needed more time to review it.
On Nov. 30, Howard County Police officers responded to a home in the 10000 block of American Pharoah Lane at about 3:10 p.m. for a “domestic in progress,” according to an Office of the Attorney General news release. A preliminary investigation found that a man had fired multiple shots into the home’s door before entering the home through a window.
The man, identified as 29-year-old Tyree Winslow, was declared dead at the scene. Police have not said whether he was killed by police gunfire or his own.
In the first few minutes of the released footage, a camera worn by officer Joseph Debronzo shows him arriving at the scene alone and preparing his weapon. He takes cover behind vehicles parked across the street, then approaches the home, where shattered glass is strewn on the stairs in front of the door.
“I got a cry for help, I’m going to have to make entry,” Debronzo is heard saying into his radio during the footage. Debronzo tries to kick open a barricaded door, where he sees multiple shell casings, but retreats again across the street behind parked unoccupied vehicles.
Officer Christopher Weir arrives at the scene and warns Debronzo by exclaiming, “Window! Window! Window!”
A man can be seen in a second-floor window of the home, then a woman is seen climbing out of another window with her child onto a ledge above the front entrance. She screams as the officers tell her to stay there and lie down. The woman is heard saying, “I’m about to jump,” and “help me, please,” as Debronzo repeatedly tells her “stay there” and “you’re OK.”
The officers yell “show me your hands” while continuing to tell the woman that she is OK and should stay put. Both officers take shelter behind a red truck parked on the street, then more than a dozen shots are fired.
After the shots are fired Debronzo is heard continuing to tell the woman that she is OK. “Please help me,” she says. “I will, you’re OK. You’re OK, ma’am,” Debronzo responds.
In footage taken by his body camera, Weir moves to the side of the home under the ledge and asks the woman to toss her child down to him. Eventually, Weir catches the child, and the officers guide the woman to safety. The woman is heard in the footage saying she isn’t injured.
The Howard County Police Tactical Team footage is last. That team is shown entering the home at around 5:40 p.m. after failed attempts to contact Winslow. Winslow was found with numerous loaded firearms and a knife near him, according to the police news release.
The footage shows officers retrieving a gun from Winslow’s hands. Blood can be seen on the carpet near a window with shattered blinds. An officer checking the body is heard saying both of Winslow’s arms seem to be broken and that he seemed to be shot in the neck. They call a medic inside.
Both Weir and Debronzo were placed on standard administrative leave following the shooting, a Howard County Police Department spokesperson said in December.
The investigation is continuing. At the end of the footage, the Office of the Attorney General urged anyone with information about the case to contact the IID.
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