RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Newly released body camera footage is offering new insight into an officer-involved shooting last month that resulted in the death of a Richmond man.
Richmond Police Department (RPD) released an edited three minute and 41 second video on the department’s Facebook page on Wednesday, April 12 which contained 911 calls and body cam footage of an officer-involved shooting that ultimately resulted in the death of 63-year-old James Talbert on March 31.
On Friday, March 31, Talbert was accused of shooting and killing his wife, 55-year-old Peace Talbert. Police ultimately found him in a parking lot on North Avenue.
At the beginning of the newly released video, a man can be heard telling a 911 operator that his former employee told him that he killed his wife and was “driving around in his car with three guns.”
The video then cuts to a timeline of events and pictures of the Talbert residence and the surrounding neighborhood before introducing footage of the shooting.
This includes surveillance camera footage from a nearby business’ and body camera footage from three separate officers on the scene.
In the released body cam footage, the first officer fires once before their weapon malfunctions.
Then the second fires and Talbert can be seen falling to the ground. A caption in the video says that this officer fired three times.
Finally, a third officer arrives and seven gunshots are heard as the officers exits their vehicle.
The video ends with pictures of the parking lot where officer-involved shooting took place.
This video comes after exclusive footage obtained by 8News earlier this week, which shows Talbert and Richmond Police exchanging fire before Talbert falls to the ground.
After the officer-involved shooting, Talbert was taken to the hospital in critical condition and died later that night.
“We have taken great care to ensure the deceased’s family members, officers involved in the incident, and the Office of the Commonwealth Attorney has had the opportunity to view this summary,” RPD wrote alongside the released video. “It should be noted that officers on the scene provided first aid measures until an ambulance responded. Mr. Talbert later succumb to his injuries at a local hospital.”
The department also noted that portions of the footage did not include audio because of a technological delay.
The release of this footage comes after RPD announced they are implementing a new policy that will require officers to release video of “critical incidents” to the public within two weeks of the event happening. This decision was made to increase transparency and build trust with the community.
“The purpose of the critical incident briefing is to provide the public with a summary of the information, audio, video, and photos,” the department wrote. “It is intended to provide details as we currently understand them. It should not be construed as the conclusion to any police investigation.”
8News requested an interview with acting chief Rick Edwards on Wednesday, but that request was denied.
