Louisville Metro Police released body camera video Friday of a United States Air Force veteran charging them with a 7-inch knife before being fatally shot in his driveway in Pleasure Ridge Park.

Nicholas Pierce called 911 earlier in the day on Friday, May 10. Police and EMS responded to the house on Crawford Avenue on a medical run. But LMPD Deputy Chief Col. Steven Healey said Pierce refused to put his dog up, which he had by the collar. So it wasn't safe for police or EMS to get close to the house, Healey said.

Hours later, around 11 p.m. Pierce called 911 again. He repeatedly yelled at the dispatcher, Healey said, and refused to answer questions. He was armed and told the dispatcher not to send a "nice officer." Pierce suffered from mental illness, his family said, but what he told the dispatcher meant they couldn't send a deflection officer, officially known as someone affiliated with the city's Crisis Call Diversion Program, to the house.

Body camera video shows officers outside the house, yelling for Pierce to come out, that they were there to help. He came out of a back door with the dog in front of him and armed with a 7-inch Ka-Bar knife, Healey said. Officers yelled for him to drop the knife, but Pierce continued, so they first fired their tasers, which forced him to the ground. But after about five seconds, he stood up and began charging at them again, the knife still in his hand.

Officers Bailey Siegrist, Christine Silk and Noah Sheets all fired their guns, hitting Pierce. All three were placed on paid administrative leave amid the investigation, per city protocol. They were each sworn in as LMPD officers within the last 18 months.

"That was a justified, deadly force encounter," Healey said Friday.

Even after being shot, Pierce continued to hold the knife in his hand, yelling at officers that he'd been robbed, that he was "almost dead" and pleading with them to "finish me off."

"You could see he continued to hold that knife and hold officers at bay, even after being tased, shot ... and officers trying to provide life-saving measures," Healey said. "Officers were pleading with him to put the knife down so they could save him."

Pierce died at UofL Hospital two days later.