![The block where a Cleveland police officer killed a suspect Thursday morning was blocked off by officers from Cleveland police and the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department. [Matthew Richmond / ideastream]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/cb69f1b/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x1686+0+0/resize/840x472!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fuploads%2F2021%2F4%2F15%2Fbeachwoodshooting_web.jpg)
Updated: 10:34 p.m., Thursday, April 15, 2021
Cleveland released body cam footage Thursday evening from the shooting death of Innes Lee, Jr., by a Cleveland police officer that morning.
The footage shows Officer Daniel Piper chasing Lee, a 25-year-old Black man, into the backyard of an abandoned home. Lee stopped at the fence at the back of the yard, turned toward the officer and pulled a gun out of his waistband, at which point the officer fired multiple times, killing Lee.
Cleveland police also arrested two people hiding in the garage on the property and recovered drugs and a rifle.
According to Chief of Police Calvin Williams, police were brought to the residence on East 134th Street near Beachwood Avenue, in the southeastern end of the city, after two calls came in from residents about Lee allegedly committing crimes in the area.
Around 8 a.m., officers spotted Lee and pursued him on foot for a short distance.
“The officer encountered him, ordered him to put his hands up, to get down, when that person basically turned on the officer, pulled a gun from his waistband, at which time the officer fired his weapon,” Williams told reporters at the scene.
Warning: This video contains graphic images
Officials said there were multiple warrants out for his arrest, including for the 2020 killing of a 48-year-old woman.
The Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s office will investigate, with assistance from the state’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which had two crime scene investigation vans at the scene Thursday.
“We plan to have a full and transparent investigation which will be reviewed by the Ohio Attorney General at its conclusion,” Sheriff Christopher Viland said.
The shooting is the second involving Cleveland law enforcement in the last 24 hours.
On Wednesday afternoon, an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent shot a 20-year-old man on the city’s East Side.
According to a statement released by the city Thursday night, a DEA special agent was conducting a drug investigation in Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood. He was alone in an unmarked vehicle when another car pulled up and two men got out. One of the men displayed a firearm and the agent shot him.
The unnamed man survived the shooting and is in custody at Cleveland Clinic.
