Saratoga County (WRGB) — Body cam footage of the fatal officer involved shooting of Brandon Moore at a Saratoga County apartment building was released Wednesday as part of Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation.
Brandon R. Moore, 37, was shot and killed by law enforcement the morning of April 10 after a standoff at Ellsworth apartment complex in Malta, marking the second fatal officer-involved shooting in the Saratoga County town in less than 24 hours.
The footage, which lasted only 22 seconds, was recorded from the body camera of one of the Saratoga County Sheriff deputies that responded.
In the video, you can see a team of state police members and Saratoga County sheriff deputies huddled in the hallway before seeing Moore emerge and stand at the doorway of the apartment. Police order him to raise his hands, and in a split second, you see a man wearing a white shirt pointing what appears to be a handgun towards the police.
Moore was fatally shot.
According to police, a total of six law enforcement members discharged their firearm– four with state police and two sheriff deputies.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Suspect fatally shot during domestic call in Malta, two officers reportedly injured
According to New York State Police, troopers and Saratoga County sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a physical domestic dispute around 8:53 a.m. at Building 2 of the Ellsworth Commons Apartments. When officers arrived just after 9 a.m., the man involved—identified as Brandon R. Moore, 37—barricaded himself inside his apartment and refused to cooperate.
At approximately 10.37 a.m., while law enforcement personnel were attempting negotiations, Mr. Moore exited the apartment with what appeared to be a handgun. Law enforcement members instructed Mr. Moore to drop the firearm. Mr. Moore refused to follow the multiple commands and aimed the weapon at state police members and deputies. At that time, the troopers and deputies fired their department-issued firearms fatally striking him,” said Major Christopher Gilroy, Troop G Commander with New York State Police during a press briefing.
Investigators later determined that the weapon Moore was holding was a CO2-powered BB pistol, which was loaded at the time.
Retired police captain John Cooney watched the video and felt the team of officers did as they were trained.
“From a training perspective, this film is an Academy Award winner,” said Cooney.
“They avoided contagious fire, which is just emptying your gun out until it’s over, which we often see because there’s so much trauma and force involved in shooting your weapon,” he said, describing how officers are trained to fire three shots at a threat.
Cooney said it’s difficult to distinguish BB guns from firearms.
“Unfortunately, manufacturers have gone out of the way to make it look as real as possible,” he said.
“Once the weapon gets raised, they have no time. They have less than a second, a split second. They have to understand that ‘what I see in his hand will end our lives. I will not allow that,'” said Cooney.
This officers involved shooting happened a day after another police involved shooting in the town.
On April 9th, David Levine was shot and killed by police after firing shots outside the state police barracks in Malta.