Sacramento police release body camera footage of officer shooting suspect armed with knife near school

The Sacramento Police Department on Sunday night released body camera footage of an officer shooting a suspect near an elementary school last month in the Northgate area.

Police said the incident began around 6:45 p.m. on March 10 when dispatch received a call that a man was on a school campus along the 3100 block of Northstead Drive, armed with a knife and would chase anyone who approached him. 

The police department redacted the school's name from the video, but the scene and report of the call were near Hazel Strauch Elementary.

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office's helicopter was able to locate the suspect walking in front of the school and holding a knife, the video shows. Police said the deputies were telling the suspect to drop the knife. 

The video shows the suspect walking toward an officer as the officer was pointing a gun at the suspect.

The department said officers made multiple commands for the suspect to drop the knife and tried to de-escalate the situation, but they said the suspect refused and continued toward the officers. 

This is when at least one officer fired their weapon. Police said a less-lethal conducted energy device was also deployed at the same time.

The suspect was then detained and officers provided medical aid. Officers said in the video that the suspect suffered one gunshot wound to the stomach.

The suspect, later identified as 29-year-old Jamal Dearmond of Sacramento, was taken to a hospital before he was booked into jail for multiple counts with a deadly weapon.  

Police said it was determined that the suspect was the person who called dispatch regarding the disturbance. A knife was located at the scene.