DPS Releases Dash Cam Video of UNT Officer-Involved Shooting

The Department of Public Safety has released dashcam video showing the deadly shooting of a University of North Texas student by a police officer in Denton.

The shooting happened around 1:30 a.m. Sunday when a UNT officer responded to a call of a man knocking out car windows in a parking garage near campus. The man, identified as sophomore student Ryan McMillan, was wielding an axe.

WARNING: Some viewers may find the video disturbing. NBC DFW has paused the video so it does not show the actual shooting, but allowed the audio to continue.

The Department of Public Safety has released dashcam video showing the deadly shooting of a University of North Texas student by a police officer in Denton. WARNING: Some viewers may find the video disturbing. NBC DFW has paused the video so it does not show the actual shooting, but allowed the audio to continue.

Watch the video on our mobile site here.

In the footage, McMillan can be seen holding an axe while approaching the UNT officer. The officer, Cpl. Stephen Bean, tells McMillan multiple times to "back away" while McMillan repeatedly says, "shoot me." 

The entire incident — from when the officer parks his car to the moment he fires three shots — happens in about 15 seconds.

Bean then radios in, "I've got a white man down with a hatchet in his hand, Fry and Oak."

Bean, 27, has been on the UNT police force for four years. He's on routine leave as Texas Rangers continue their investigation into his use of deadly force.

McMillan, a pre-hospitality major, turned 21 Saturday.

Video obtained by the student newspaper North Texas Daily appears to show McMillan walking through the garage with an axe in his hand. Authorities said he damaged at least seven vehicles in the parking garage before the fatal shooting.

"There are axe markings all over the cars. It was pretty crazy. It looked like something out of a horror movie," resident Benjamin Agrisano told NBC DFW on Sunday.

The Tarrant County medical examiner said McMillan died of multiple gunshot wounds, but did not say how many. The medical examiner will also determine whether McMillan was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of his death. Results of toxicology tests can take up to 60 days to receive.

The university called the shooting "a tragic event that saddens us as a university community."

A man wielding an axe was shot and killed by a University of North Texas police officer. Witnesses describe what they saw and heard before the fatal shots were fired.
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