COVINGTON, Ky. — Police body camera footage released Monday shows a bank robbery suspect pointed an altered toy gun at police before he was shot.
On Friday, Feb. 28, Covington officers responded around 3 p.m. to reports of an armed robbery at the US Bank in the 600 block of Madison Avenue, a popular area with multiple restaurants, shops, and Hotel Covington.
According to Kenton County Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Sanders, Specialist Wade Webster and Officer Phouthakone Homphothichak were directed by a witness to the suspect, Charles Davis. Davis matched the suspect description and was dropping money as he walked down a nearby alley to the bank, Sanders said.
Webster's body-worn camera captured the entire shooting, but Hompthothichak's camera was not turned on. Sanders said Homphothichak mistakenly thought it was running before he exited his police cruiser. A Ring camera at a nearby business also captured the entire shooting.
In Webster's body-worn camera video, he and Homphothichak pursue Davis into the alley where they ask him to drop his weapon and get down on the ground. Davis continues to ignore the officers and reaches for his gun, leading to both Webster and Hompthothichak firing multiple shots.
After Davis is first shot, he reaches and grabs his weapon again, which fell a few feet away from him, leading to two more shots being fired by the officers. Davis still retrieves his weapon and points it directly at Webster before he's shot at a third time.
The officers also shoot at Davis a fourth time as they're trying to detain him and he attempts to point his weapon again. Both Webster and Homphothichak then handcuff Davis and begin performing medical attention alongside other officers. Davis was then transported to UC Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries, Kentucky State Police previously said.
"The apparent imminent threat to each officer clearly justified the use of deadly force against Davis," Sanders said.
After the shooting, investigators found that Davis didn't actually possess a functional firearm, but a toy gun that was altered to appear like a real gun.
"Though not a functional firearm, the gun in Davis's hand appeared readily capable of causing serious physical injury or death," Sanders said.
Sanders also said neither Webster nor Homphothichak will face any excessive force charges. Both were placed on leave during the course of the investigation and will return to work shortly, he said.
"You have to keep firing until the threat is neutralized," Sanders said. "That's what the officers are trained to do."
Sanders said Kentucky State Police investigated the shooting, and the robbery investigation was taken over by the FBI. Davis is currently being held at the Kenton County Jail.
Davis has prior minor offenses in Kentucky, but he has prior burglary, manslaughter and fraud charges in Alabama, Sanders said.
