The Metropolitan Police Department on Friday released body-camera footage of the fatal shooting of George Watson as he emerged from his apartment in the U Street area on Aug. 31.

According to official accounts, police were responding to a 911 call of a man in his balcony with what appeared to be a long gun. The footage starts as officers entered the building at 14th and V Streets NW, where they knocked on Watson’s door.

“Are you in need of any assistance?” asked an officer identified as Sgt. Jonathan Nelson, a 12-year veteran of the department, through the closed door. Watson, 34, eventually emerged, refusing to allow police to enter and repeatedly asking, “Where that bitch in pink at?” After Watson closed the door, Nelson is seen communicating into his radio that Watson is “definitely a mental health consumer.”

Watson opened and closed the door quickly a second time, before emerging holding what police said they believed was a gun, at which point Nelson backed up and fired multiple shots at Watson. Police officials later identified the weapon as an airsoft pellet gun made by the company First Strike, though Police Chief Robert J. Contee III said at the time that “this weapon [looked] very real” to the responding officers.

D.C. law requires the city to release the body camera footage and names of officers involved in a serious use of force within five days, unless the family of the victim objects to the release of the footage. In a letter to D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) on Sept. 8, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Chris Geldart said the footage was posted after Watson’s “next of kin … consented to publicly release” it.

The incident outside Watson’s apartment was the fourth police shooting over the last month, two of which were fatal. In late August police shot and killed An’Twan Gilmore as he slept in his car on New York Avenue NE. While police said Gilmore had a gun in his waistband, his family and friends are demanding answers as to why he was shot 10 times when he seemed to pose little threat.

Both incidents will be reviewed by the U.S. Attorney for D.C. for any possible charges, and the officers who fired the shots will remain on administrative leave during the investigation.

In recent years, some local officials and advocates have pushed for MPD to institute tactical and training improvements to prevent future police shootings.  In May, D.C. Auditor Kathy Patterson released a report assessing the 2020 police shooting of 18-year-old Deon Kay, finding that while the officer had reason to fire his weapon “officers acted recklessly and without a plan” when they pursued Kay. Federal prosecutors opted not to pursue charges against the officer who shot and killed Kay.