ALBAWABA — Newly released body camera footage of Orange County deputies fatally shooting a woman armed with a kitchen knife has ignited a firestorm on social media over police use of force and de-escalation tactics.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office released a video as part of its transparency policy showing officers responding to a call of a disturbance June 3 after reports of a woman screaming outside a home on Tivoli Street.
Deputies knocked on the residence and found the woman with a kitchen knife, the sheriff’s office said. As officers backed away to create space between them, they repeatedly told her to drop the weapon. The woman kept coming forward, uttering verbal threats, and three deputies opened fire.
The woman was taken to a nearby hospital, where, despite emergency medical treatment, she later died of her injuries.
The deputies involved have been placed on paid administrative leave pending an independent investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Those results will then be forwarded to the State Attorney’s Office for review.
The video’s release ignited a firestorm of online reaction, with many asking whether officers had exhausted all available de-escalation measures before using lethal force.
Critics said that there were multiple officers present so they should have had other options, like a Taser or other ways to subdue the woman. Others asked how police would handle people who may be experiencing a mental health crisis.
But law enforcement supporters said the immediate threat was an armed suspect lunging at officers after giving multiple commands to drop the weapon, and that deputies responded in accordance with their training to defend themselves from potential harm.
The incident has sparked a wider public debate about police training and use-of-force policies and whether officers should employ more de-escalation techniques when approaching suspects with edged weapons.
