Body camera video obtained by 24 Hour News 8 shows a Grand Rapids police officer shoot a stabbing suspect during a heated confrontation.
The Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office ruled that Grand Rapids Police Department Officer Tim Orent was justified in shooting Victor Gonzalez on March 11.
Police were trying to track down Gonzalez after they said he stabbed a woman during a carjacking outside the Meijer in Walker on March 9.
Officers first found Gonzalez at the Steel Cat Bar on Grand Rapids’ west side on the morning of March 11. They tried using a Taser, but it had no effect. Police said Gonzalez then took off and into the basement of a nearby building.
In the body-camera video, Orent and Officer Glen Brower are positioned just outside the back door of that building. They worked to provide cover, standing guard as police tried corner Gonzalez inside.
“He had to be right here, he had to have gone right here and locked the door,” one of the officers is heard saying, motioning toward the back door.
Moments later, the pair hears shouting. A K-9 dog had found Gonzales, and suddenly, from the view of Orent’s body camera, Gonzalez can be seeing running through the back door and up the stairs toward Brower.
“Get on the ground!” officers are heard shouting, repeatedly, to Gonzales.
“Dog is biting me!” Gonzalez yelled several times in return.
Then, the video shows Gonzalez grab Brower, pull him down and climb on top of him. That’s when Orent fires three shots.
Gonzalez was shot in the lower back and in both arms.
Brower’s body camera video shows Orent holding down Gonzalez once the suspect is handcuffed.
“Glen, I had to,” Orent tells Brower.