Tennessee law enforcement officers fatally shot a man with a box cutter on a major highway Thursday afternoon after a tense 30-minute stalemate.
The deadly encounter came after a state highway patrol spotted 37-year-old Landon Eastep sitting on a guardrail on Interstate 65 in Nashville at about 2 p.m. WKRN reportedreferring to the police.
When police tried to talk to Eastep, “he pushed away from the trooper and pulled out a box cutter,” said Don Aaron, the spokesman for the Metro Nashville Police Department.
The trooper called for backup – and numerous agents from three agencies tried for about half an hour to de-escalate the situation.
But nine of the officers opened fire when Eastep quickly retrieved an unknown “silver, shiny cylindrical object” from his right pocket, Aaron said.
Eastep was hit several times and died at a local hospital.
Video of a witness obtained by WSMV captured the confrontation, and the moment the officers shot Eastep after he raised an arm.
It wasn’t immediately clear what the item Eastep was taking from his pocket, but Aaron confirmed it wasn’t a firearm.
The shooting is under investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
With Post wires