A Phoenix police officer fatally shot an armed father who was holding his son in a dramatic encounter that was captured by a body camera.
The police officer can be heard pleading with 37-year-old Paul Bolden to put the child down before shooting him outside a hotel on January 9 in a video released Monday by the Phoenix Police Department.
Police responded to the scene after Bolden’s girlfriend called 911 reporting that he was firing a gun while holding the child.
“[He] he just took my baby, he has a gun, he’s loaded, he took the baby. He’s trying to kill him, he’s shooting, he shot, ”said the desperate mother to 911 dispatchers, according to the call’s audio released on Monday.
“He took my son, he stole my son.”
Before the police arrived, Bolden kept a driver at gunpoint, according to another 911 call.
When the police arrived at the scene, Bolden refused his orders to drop the gun, the police said.
“He has a child taken hostage now,” says a police officer, according to the footage. “He has a gun, he has already shot himself,” continues the policeman.
“We need more units, block all traffic.”
Bolden then points the gun at his son and others, the police said, taking the policeman with a rifle to open fire.
The shot was fired from behind the door of a police SUV, which blocked the camera from the policeman’s body.
After shooting, a policeman decides to run and catch the crying baby from the floor.
“Wait, wait, wait,” a policeman can be heard saying.
“No, fuck it, take the child! Take the child! ”Another responds.
Bolden was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.