Fort Lee police shooting body cam footage analyzed, minute by minute

The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General released Friday redacted body camera footage and 911 calls from the Fort Lee police officers who responded to The Pinnacle apartment building in Fort Lee on July 28.

During the encounter with the police, Victoria Lee, 25, was shot once and killed after police broke into the apartment and she moved towards police.

In the weeks that have followed, activists and other groups have held rallies seeking justice for Victoria Lee.

Lee's family, in a statement to The Record/NorthJersey.com , said she was holding a 5-gallon water when she was fatally shot.

Here is a detailed account what can be seen and heard in the body cam footage and the 911 calls.

Lee's brother calls 911 twice

At 1:13 a.m. on July 28, Lee's brother calls 911 and tells the dispatcher that his "sister is having a mental crisis" and his family wants "to send her to a hospital."

The dispatcher asks what type of mental health issue Lee is having.

Lee's brother says, "She's having like a mental breakdown right now... Right now, we are trying to send her to Valley Hospital... to this mental clinic."

The dispatcher asks if Lee has been diagnosed with any mental health issues. The brother says he is not sure and then much of his answers are deleted out of the audio.

The dispatcher tells him we will send an officer and an ambulance. The brother says, "Just an ambulance is fine."

The dispatcher responds: "It's a mental health... We have to send officers also... for the safety of the ambulance core."

The brother calls 911 back and asks: "I just called... Can I just cancel that call?"

The dispatcher responds: "Not for a mental health call... Why do you want to cancel the call?"

The brother responds: "Right now, she has a knife with her."

The dispatcher asks: "Is she trying to cut anybody with the knife or just holding the knife?"

He says she is just holding it.

The dispatcher asks what type of knife it is and the brother says it is a "foldable knife."

After muting the call for a moment, the dispatcher says: "The officers are going to be there momentarily. They are going to have to double check, especially since she has the knife."

The dispatcher confirms the brother can let the officers into the lobby when they arrive and keeps the call active "in case anything changes."

First officer on the scene

Of the five police body cam videos released by the AG, one video (3:30 minutes long) shows the vantage point of first officer on the scene with the brother, who called 911.

The brother comes out of the apartment to talk to the officer.

"Hey, is it you?" the officer asks. "You have a knife."

The officer is able to determine while talking to the brother that it is his sister who is having mental health crisis.

The door is opened, seemingly by the officer, and two women can be seen inside the apartment, one holding a barking dog.

"Don't come in here," says the mother holding the barking dog. The barking obscures some of what the women say.

Victoria Lee points at the officer and says, "Stand back. Stand back," before closing the door.

The brother talks to the officer, but his words aren't audible on the recording.

One woman yells through the closed door, cursing about the officer opening the door.

The officer then starts knocking on the door saying, "Open the door. Open the door. Open the door, ma'am."

Then he asks the brother: "Do you have the key?" Before continuing to knock on the door.

Additional officers arrive

Five additional officers arrive and can be seen coming down the hallway.

After explaining who is inside the apartment, the first officer again knocks on the door saying: "I'm gonna break the door down."

A woman yells from behind the door, "Go ahead. I'll stab you in the fucking neck... Shoot me if you want to... Go home, pig."

"We don't want to shoot you. We want to talk to you," an officer can he heard saying.

After the first threat, officers move the brother away from the door and begin discussing options.

"Who wants to go less lethal? Who wants to go lethal," one officer asks.

The first officer says, "I'll go lethal."

Another officer says non lethal and can be seen with his taser out.

"He's getting the tools ... if you comfortable giving it a try, that's up to you. Normally barricaded we wait, but if there is someone in there, we need to go," the officer says to the first officer.

The officer holds a large shield as the first officer starts attempting to break open the door.

Officers can be heard repeating, "We are going to break down the door."

After three attempts, the first officer pauses and yells, "Open the door!"

He shoulder slams the apartment door a total of five times before successful breaching it.

Shooting and aftermath

As the door flies opens, we can see Victoria Lee holding a large water jug in her right hand and her mother pulling her daughter's left arm back as she moves towards the officers into the doorway.

An officer can he heard yelling, "Drop the weapon!"

The first officer on the scene fires one shot, the video blurs Lee's body as she falls to floor in the apartment, water flooding the floor and carpet in the hallway.

A chaotic scene ensues as officers in the hallway are yelling: "Put the knife down."

As officers enter the apartment they can be heard yelling: "Where's the knife? Where's the knife?"

One officer, presumably the one who fired, yells: "Oh, [bleep]! Oh, [Bleep]! ... [Bleep]!"

An officer drags Lee out of the apartment into the hallway where they attempt to give her medical aid, asking for towels. Much of the video is blurred after the shooting.

The Attorney General has identified Fort Lee Officer Tony Pickens Jr. as the officer who fired and killed Lee.

Other body cam footage

The body cam videos from other officers show the scene from different angles.

In the videos, multiple officers can be seen drawing their weapons as the door was breached. One had a taser drawn.

In the aftermath of the shooting, multiple videos show an officer toss a gold and brown, foldable pocket knife out of the apartment onto the soaked hallway carpet.

To hear the 911 calls and view all of the body cam footage released by the Attorney General, click here.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Fort Lee police shooting body cam footage analyzed, minute by minute