Video Shows Police Shoot 60-Year-Old Man While Responding to Mental Health Crisis

A police officer in Buffalo, New York, shot a 60-year-old man who was undergoing a mental health crisis on Saturday.

The incident was filmed by an onlooker as the man was followed by police on Genesee Street and Michigan Avenue in Buffalo as he carried and swung a baseball bat. Police first attempted to subdue the man using pepper spray. At least one of the officers responding to the incident was trained specifically to deal with mental health crises.

After the man swung his bat at one of the officers, another officer fired two rounds, hitting the man. According to Captain Jeff Rinaldo, one of those shots struck the man in the abdomen. Local TV station WIVB News 4 reported on Sunday that the injured man was in stable condition at a hospital and that police are investigating the incident.

"One of the officers on scene was a crisis intervention trained officer. They attempted to speak to the individual who became agitated, got up from where he was sitting and began to walk down Genesee Street," Rinaldo said at a Saturday press conference, Spectrum News reported. The captain said that body camera footage from the multiple officers who responded to the incident was being reviewed by the police department's homicide unit.

Newsweek reached out to the Buffalo Police Department for further comment, but it did not respond by the time of publication.

John Evans, the president of the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association union, released a Saturday statement about the incident.

"As the investigation continues into the details of today's incident on Genesee Street, we believe our officers followed Departmental protocols and New York law in responding to an individual who attacked a Buffalo police officer with a baseball bat. The officer was struck repeatedly and was taken to Erie County Medical Center for treatment," Evans said.

"Officers on the scene, including a member from the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT), pleaded with the individual to drop the bat. Despite these efforts the individual ultimately attacked the officer who was injured," he added.

The shooting comes amid heightened national scrutiny of police and the criminal justice system, as Black Lives Matter and anti-racism demonstrations continue across the country. Activists are critical of the fact that police in the U.S. routinely use deadly force, which they say is disproportionately directed at Black Americans and other minorities. The movement is calling for significant reductions in police funding while also demanding an end to systemic racism in the U.S. justice system.