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Police: OKC Officer Fatally Shoots Man with Knife

OKC Police

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma City police say an officer fatally shot a man who threatened officers with a knife Friday.

Police Capt. Daniel Stewart said during a news conference that police encountered the man after getting a disturbance call from a business.

Stewart said the first officer to arrive on the scene backed away and called for “less lethal support” after the man came toward him with a knife.

Stewart said that after multiple attempts at dialogue and less lethal tactics, including deploying a stun gun and using pepper spray, the man advanced toward officers with the knife in hand.

“He ran at the officer, and he had a knife, and the officer was forced to discharge his weapon,” Stewart said.

Stewart said the man died at the scene.

Oklahoma Watch identified the man as Bennie Edwards, a Black man experiencing homelessness whose family said he suffered from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Dozens of protestors gathered Friday afternoon at the scene, chanting “Black Lives Matter.”

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.
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