New bodycam footage shows fatal Fort Lee, NJ police shooting

FORT LEE — Police officers shot a woman experiencing a mental health crisis just seconds after breaking down her apartment door as seen in new bodycam video.

The Attorney General's Office released around 12 minutes of footage from the fatal encounter in the early morning hours of July 28.

The five videos revealed how a 911 call for an ambulance turned into a deadly police shooting.

Victoria Lee, 25, of Fort Lee was shot by Officer Tony Pickens, Jr. at the Pinnacle apartment complex on Main Street, according to the OAG.

Her brother told police that Lee had a folding knife but she was "just holding it." Her family said she dropped the knife and was instead holding a water jug before police busted down the door.

Authorities said a knife was found at the scene but did not say whether Lee was holding it when she was shot.

What does police bodycam show?

Video released by the OAG on Friday showed that police officers opened the apartment door and saw Lee standing behind her mother, who was holding a dog.

The two women closed the door. Officer Pickens told them to open the door back up because Lee had a knife and could hurt someone.

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Around a half dozen other officers arrived moments later and said through the door that they would have to break in.

"Go ahead, I’ll stab you in the fucking neck," Lee said to the officers.

Pickens then broke in the door. It appeared that Lee went toward the police officers while holding a water jug.

The officer fired one shot and hit Lee in the chest. She dropped the water jug and it began to spill.

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It's unclear from the video whether Lee was also holding a knife when she was shot. Pickens can be seen identifying a knife on the floor of the apartment as they went to provide aid to Lee. She was pronounced dead within a half hour.

The shooting remains under investigation.