Richland sheriff’s office releases police body camera video of fatal shooting by deputy
The Richland County Sheriff’s Department released police body camera footage Wednesday of a deputy fatally shooting a man.
Through their attorneys, the family of the slain man asked to release the body camera video of both deputies who were at the shooting, the department said.
The videos give more context to the circumstances of the shooting, which have been disputed between the sheriff’s department, the family’s lawyers and Black community groups who have been communicating with the family.
Deputy Zach Hentz shot and killed 37-year-old Irvin Moorer Charley Saturday after deputies were called to Heyward Brockington Road about an ongoing assault with what a woman told a 911 dispatcher was a knife.
The body camera footage of a second deputy shows moments previously unseen in police dash camera footage.
When a deputy first arrives at a home, a woman is angry and frustrated as she speaks. She tells the deputy that Moorer Charley is her son and that he hit her in her head and arm. She wants Moorer Charley out of her house, she tells the deputy multiple times.
Another man explains that Moorer Charley has a knife, but quickly corrects himself and says its a another object. The man appears to say Moorer Charley has scissors or a shiv and that he has attacked other people with the object.
What object Moorer was holding and whether deputies were told it was a knife or another object has been disputed. The SC Black Activist Coalition first called the object a “stick.” A woman in a 911 call said Moorer Charley had a knife. Deputies call the object a weapon and a knife in the videos.
As the deputy approaches the front door of the house, the man says “don’t shoot or nothing” to the deputy. The man says Moorer Charley doesn’t have a gun as the deputy orders the man to back out of his line of sight.
That’s when Moorer Charley comes out of the house toward the deputy with what was later discovered to be a 15-inch wooden object that resembled the shape of a knife.
Sheriff Leon Lott would later call the wooden object a “stake.”
The deputy orders Moorer Charley to drop the weapon and get on the ground.
On Tuesday, the sheriff’s department released police dash camera footage of the shooting. The new body camera footage more clearly shows, Moorer Charley saying “You can shoot me” to the deputies.
The mother tries to appeal to her son stop what he’s doing. The other man shouts for Moorer Charley not to get himself hurt.
Hentz arrives moments later and gives the same order before trying, but failing, to shoot Moorer Charley with a stun gun.
Video from Hentz’ body camera shows Moorer Charley running toward Hentz with the object still in hand in the seconds before the deputy opens fire.
The State edited the body camera videos to take out the shooting.
Moorer Charley’s family has called for a new, independent investigation into the shooting, say the sheriff’s department investigating its own shooting is an “inherent conflict of interest.”
Lott has defended his department’s investigation saying it is more capable of doing the investigation than other state agencies and that the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the 5th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, headed by Solicitor Byron Gipson, will review the investigation.
The solicitor’s office will determine if the shooting was justified.
This story was originally published March 23, 2022 at 5:26 PM.