The Warren Police Department has released body camera footage from an incident earlier this week in which officers fatally shot a man armed with an ice pick. The shooting occurred Monday night when police responded to a domestic disturbance involving 41-year-old Kenneth Beno, who was later identified as the man killed during the altercation with law enforcement, according to CBS News Detroit.
Police had arrived at a home on Railroad Street after receiving a call from a woman claiming Beno, armed with a knife, had threatened her and then left the scene. Caught in the camera footage running with a weapon, Beno is heard yelling "Shoot me!" to officers confronting him, according to The Detroit News. Despite attempts to subdue him with a Taser, Beno continued to approach the officers, prompting them to open fire after he got within about 12 feet of them.
Warren Police Commissioner Eric Hawkins described the situation as "an unfortunate use of force" at a press conference. "We try to resolve all of our incidents that we have in a peaceful manner, but this was one of those cases where officers had no choice but to protect themselves from this person," Hawkins told CBS News Detroit. Hawkins added that Beno had a history of mental-health issues and encounters with law enforcement, including threats of suicide and previous incidents of assaulting officers and domestic violence.
The release of the footage comes amidst a broader conversation about the intersection of mental health and law enforcement, with Hawkins pointing out an analysis found more than half of aggravated assaults and felony assaults in Warren in the last two years were connected to domestic violence. Additionally, 70% of homicides had a domestic violence nexus, and more than 1,500 calls for service last year involved people in mental crises, as reported by The Detroit News. Bringing a sharper focus to the ongoing challenge, Hawkins stated that the Warren Police Department is working on forming a crisis intervention unit and that all officers are undergoing emotional intelligence training. Lana Price, the woman who called 911 and was also Beno's on-and-off girlfriend of three years, told FOX 2 Detroit that she defended the officers' actions, believing Beno would have harmed them had they not acted.
Currently, four Warren officers involved in the shooting are on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation. Beno had active warrants for assaulting police, domestic violence, and disorderly conduct. With the newly released footage, the Warren Police Department aims to be transparent about the incident and its handling, as the city's police force is one of 15 accredited by the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards, ensuring best practices for internal reviews, Hawkins assured during the briefing obtained by The Detroit News.
