Detroit Stations Air Graphic Video of Police Shooting

By Andrew Gauthier 

On Friday afternoon, the Detroit Police Department released surveillance footage showing a deadly shootout that occurred at a precinct last Sunday.

Police Chief Ralph Godbee decided to distribute the 68-second video to local media outlets in an effort to highlight the heroism of the police officers involved and to also display the transparency of his department.

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Every Detroit station covered the release on their websites and it was the lead story for 5 p.m. newscasts in the area.

NBC-affiliate WDIV showed the graphic video in parts as it opened its 5 p.m. newscast. Anchor Devin Scillian said, “We want to stress that the police chief and Mayor Bing want the video released to the public so that everyone understands what the officers went through.”

Other stations echoed this sentiment while also warning about the graphic nature of the video.

Fox-affiliate WJBK played the video uninterrupted with anchor Huel Perkins providing narration for the chilling images.

ABC-affiliate WXYZ led with the video story and reporter Mary Conway, live in downtown Detroit, introduced the footage, which the station decided to show in a split-screen view of two surveillance cameras (WDIV and WJBK both opted to show just one camera’s view).

Here’s the raw video via WJBK:

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