The Knoxville Police Department (KPD) released the body cam footage of an officer who shot a man armed with two knives outside the Exxon gas station at 5306 N. Broadway last month.
On April 17, just before 5:30 p.m., Officer Seth Beeler arrived at the Exxon on a report that a man, who has since been identified as William Charles McBride Jr., was “acting erratically and potentially violently inside of the store,” according to KPD.
Upon arrival at the scene, Beeler was told by a witness that McBride was armed with a knife before visually witnessing McBride inside the gas station armed with two knives.
Footage recorded by Beeler’s body camera shows him opening the door to the gas station and ordering Beeler to “come out” of the gas station and “get down on your knees.”
McBride, not following Beeler’s verbal orders, ran out of the gas station, lunging at a bystander as he was armed with the two knives.
Beeler, backing away as McBride swung the two knives while lunging for the bystander, quickly fired two shots striking McBride.
McBride remained face down on the ground for approximately three minutes before being taken into custody by Beeler as additional officers arrived on the scene. He was then transported from the scene to an area hospital and was subsequently pronounced dead after arriving at the hospital.
Beeler remains on routine administrative leave, according to KPD.
The April 17 shooting is currently being investigated by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, per standard protocol. The KPD’s Office of Professional Standards is also conducting an internal administrative investigation amid the incident.
KPD said the purpose of the body cam release is to “inform the community of the circumstances that led to the incident in a timely fashion.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
