Atlanta police officer fatally shoots naked mentally ill veteran

Video footage has emerged showing naked AF veteran running around his Atlanta apartment complex before police arrive and shoot him.

In the footage obtained by WSBTV, Anthony 'Tony' Hill, 27, can be seen walking outside the Heights at Chamblee apartment complex, climbing balconies and crawling around on the floor.

Police responded to reports that an unclothed man was running around the complex and banging on people's doors. Officers arrived at the apartments just after 1pm on Monday.

One witness told WSBTV that he told Hill to go inside otherwise he was going to get arrested.

'He was acting crazy but he was calm like he didn't know where he was,' said the witness, who did not wish to be identified. 'He was like kind of lost in his face.'

An officer approached him and Hill turned towards him, authorities said.

'When the male saw the officer, he charged, running at the officer,' said DeKalb County Director of Public Safety Cedric Alexander. 'The officer called on him to step back, drew his weapon and fired two shots.'

Witness Oscar Perez told ABC11Alive: 'The man, he was liked drugged, but he was naked and he was crawling. I think the police officer thought he was going to attack, so he shot him.'

Hill was shot in the upper torso.

The officer, who is white, is a seven-year veteran of the Dekalb County Police Department. He has not been identified.

County police chief Cedric Alexander told reporters that the officer had been equipped with a Taser at the time of the shooting. He would not comment on whether the officer should have used the Taser but said that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation would take over the probe into the shooting.

On his social media profiles, Hill had used the hashtag '#IAmBipolar'.

In his final Facebook post on Monday morning, Hill wrote: 'Where i once saw death i only see life.'

Social media also shows Hill was an Air Force veteran who had served in the Middle East.

I'm sorry, I wasn't there, but I would like to hope tasing him would work just as well as a bullet in terms of stopping him. Somehow I'm sure the GBI will exonerate the officer and claim everything is copacetic. These stories are becoming so normal, and so often, it's incredibly depressing! Especially as a parent of a child with autism, which the state classifies as a mental illness. I often wonder, if this what will happen to my child eventually? Will I bury her because the police see an illness, and not a person?

a reply to: Anyafaj

So the official police statement is he started running toward the officer?

I hope I'm never in need of an officer where I have to run towards him/her.

If you have to shoot someone because you are scared they might take your gun off you if you try to take them down in a less fatal manner, perhaps you shouldn't be carrying a gun in the first place? You're not always going to be given the luxury of having time to get your firearm out, so you need to learn alternatives, or let someone else do your job.

The "lost in the face statement" grabbed me.

My girlfriend will often say, "Come back to me," when she says I kinda just space out.

I'm actually flashing back to my last tour but I don't tell her that. So maybe this guy was back "there," and when the cop said "step back," I know if I thought I was in a combat zone, I'd rush the f*er too.

Anyway. Sad.

originally posted by: IvanAstikov
If you have to shoot someone because you are scared they might take your gun off you if you try to take them down in a less fatal manner, perhaps you shouldn't be carrying a gun in the first place? You're not always going to be given the luxury of having time to get your firearm out, so you need to learn alternatives, or let someone else do your job.

You do understand that the days of "mano e mano" went out a few decades ago with Law enforcement procedures. Police have been forced to move to the next level in order to keep themselves safe. Most of these cases of drug and mentally ill attacks are unfortunate, of course, but these days are becoming the norm it seems.

I recall when the hard drugs starting coming into vogue with a certain set of society. Cops learned early that the strength of the drug-induced perps was frequently amazing.

And if you want add determined, non-compliance to the mix in many very simple cases such as traffic stops, then you have to start drawing strict go and no-go lines. And that is what law enforcement has done. Don't blame them, blame elements of today's society. A wild, naked and husky man jumping at you is not something you are going to stop to think about.

Pure apologetics for an increasingly trigger-happy law enforcement agency. You don't respond to every threat based on that one guy who threw a load of you all over the place because none of you had a clue how to bring down a wild man without using a gun, or lethal force of some other kind. Your firearm should be the last resort in dealing with UNARMED criminals, NOT the first thing you go to.

originally posted by: Aliensun

originally posted by: IvanAstikov
If you have to shoot someone because you are scared they might take your gun off you if you try to take them down in a less fatal manner, perhaps you shouldn't be carrying a gun in the first place? You're not always going to be given the luxury of having time to get your firearm out, so you need to learn alternatives, or let someone else do your job.

You do understand that the days of "mano e mano" went out a few decades ago with Law enforcement procedures. Police have been forced to move to the next level in order to keep themselves safe. Most of these cases of drug and mentally ill attacks are unfortunate, of course, but these days are becoming the norm it seems.

I recall when the hard drugs starting coming into vogue with a certain set of society. Cops learned early that the strength of the drug-induced perps was frequently amazing.

And if you want add determined, non-compliance to the mix in many very simple cases such as traffic stops, then you have to start drawing strict go and no-go lines. And that is what law enforcement has done. Don't blame them, blame elements of today's society. A wild, naked and husky man jumping at you is not something you are going to stop to think about.

Dude, that's the issue. One in a position of power should be trained enough to not HAVE TO shoot if some naked guy is rushing him/her. There are options.

A continuum of force.

And, it's different for cops than what my training taught me. They have more restrictions. But, I know, I wouldn;t shoot first if some naked Tali f*er was rushing me... I'd escalate as needed. (obviously, I'm going home and he's not, but still, there are rules.)

all police stations in the country should just change their name to RIPD and get it over with.
i don't even get these posts anymore.
you guys heard what they said about the tamir rice case? it was found that the kid was responsible for his own death.
too many police officers in america are unwilling to take the slightest chance.
this guy was naked, what could he have done? slapped him with his...

originally posted by: IShotMyLastMuse
all police stations in the country should just change their name to RIPD and get it over with.
i don't even get these posts anymore.
you guys heard what they said about the tamir rice case? it was found that the kid was responsible for his own death.
too many police officers in america are unwilling to take the slightest chance.
this guy was naked, what could he have done? slapped him with his...

Well... While I have argued above that one in a position of power needs to exercise restraint (more so than an average citizen), If a subject chooses to charge an officer after being told to stop, well.... that's kinda on him/her.

As to the degree to which they should be f*ed up. I will reserve judgement.

CASO CERRADO, Bitches!!!!

a reply to: 35Foxtrot

If a man running around naked - who hasn't actually hurt anybody yet - is the most serious crime you have to deal with at that moment, you have plenty of time to play "tag" with your potentially violent naked assailant. If he is drugged up and you are straight, he should have no chance of getting near enough to do you any harm, and the general public would love to see you guys getting chased around by a naked man until he tires.

The customer, ie. the public you serve, is always right, so get it done.

I would like to hope the police would have considered using their taser first, sadly we see that wasn't the case in this instance. I think the worst that could have happened in this case was the officer could have been teabagged. Considering this guy is a vet of the war, God only knows where his head was that day. It seems the cop was scared to death of being teabagged, so he shot him. We know that's every cops worse nightmare, right? Heaven forbid that happens, that's a weapon of mass destruction right there, so that has to be taken out immediately. Heck, the naked guy might do what my younger brother used to do to my other brother. Brother A would run into the room, hop onto Brother B's lap real quick, fart, and take off running. Make the cop was scared of any deadly gas the naked man might eject from his body towards his direction? C'mon, let's face it. We all know GBI is going to pull a Tamir Rice, say it's the mentally ill guy's fault, he shouldn't have been mentally ill. The cop will get a commendation for a job well done and everyone will forget about this come a few months down the road.

a reply to: 35Foxtrot

Ah, I see, you are a police officer, so you are taking my post as a personal attack, rather than as a general address to all law enforcement.

a reply to: Anyafaj

My sincere hopes your daughter has safe journeys in all adventures and on roads life takes her.

a reply to: 35Foxtrot
What do you think I misunderstood? Even if you are a cop, your correct response to the post you are objecting to should have been "You're right, I'd rather be made to look a bit silly than kill a man because he was naked and scary."

originally posted by: Ultralight
a reply to: Anyafaj

My sincere hopes your daughter has safe journeys in all adventures and on roads life takes her.

Thank you Ultralight.

Somehow my daughter bought scissors at the store a few weeks ago, (she's banned from sharp objects), her group home obviously paid such attention, they didn't notice until she cut all her hair off then tried to blame me claiming she got the scissors at my house, or that my sister sent them to her. I cried BS right away! Thankfully she didn't hurt anybody or herself with them, otherwise she would have been kicked out of the group home automatically and been sent to a psych ward or prison. The fact that she bought them AT A STORE, and they had no clue and were WITH HER when she bought them, tells me they were NOT paying as much attention to her as they are supposed to be. So now I have to be doubly worried for her.

(She's 19 but autistic and has moderate retardation from oxygen loss at birth and missing part of her brain. Realistically she's 8-12 mentally)

a reply to: Anyafaj

I often wonder, if this what will happen to my child eventually? Will I bury her because the police see an illness, and not a person?

Sadly, there is a good chance of exactly that. Police are not trained to deal with people with special needs, nor do I believe they care. All they see is a threat and we know how they deal with those. No matter if she was running toward them for help, as was this man for all we know, it would be the usual "She was comin' right at me bro!!" and ...... Well, let's not dwell on that. I am terrified of my son getting his license, just for that very reason. He has Asperger's and although he is very high functioning, he does not do well with facial expressions or sarcasm and sometimes takes things very literally. If he was told something in sarcasm by an officer [ I consider most of them smart ass bullies anyway ] he would do it and possibly get hurt in the mix up. It's funny that it's so important that they "get to go home at night" that they automatically pull a gun instead of a Taser, yet they are suposedly highly trained professionals.