ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — The St. Louis County Police Department has released an edited version of body camera footage from a fatal December officer-involved shooting in Jennings.
The footage is part of what police called a "critical incident briefing," which contains a recorded prologue from St. Louis County police, followed by police body camera footage taken the day 26-year-old George Hollins Jr. was fatally shot by police.
The heavily-edited footage is cut into segments interspersed with a police narrative of the incident, evidence photos and police radio traffic. 5 On Your Side has requested a raw, unedited version of the body camera footage from the police department.
The incident happened Dec. 12, 2021 at a home on the 2000 block of Coleridge Drive in Jennings. According to police, it began as a welfare check for Hollins.
Footage shows police arriving to the home and making contact with Hollins through a window. An officer identified himself as county police and asked Hollins what he was doing, and Hollins replied with "I need some help" and said he was hurt.
Police asked him several times if he could come to the front door and let them in, to which he didn't appear to respond. Police then entered through the unsecured front door.
Once police were inside the home, Hollins could be heard telling police not to come in and saying he had mental issues. An officer responded that police were there to help him.
Soon after, that officer said that he believed Hollins had a shotgun and police exited the home.
At one point, police said Hollins came out of the home with a shotgun but soon went back inside.
The Crisis Intervention Unit was notified and provided officers guidance, the police department said. Since no crime had been committed and Hollins had asked them to leave, officers left the home at around 10:35 a.m. in order to de-escalate the situation, the department said.
That marked the end of the first section of body camera footage.
Within 20 minutes, at about 10:52 a.m., several people called 911 to report Hollins had fired several shots. Hollins struck three homes and fired at a passing car, police said.
Police again responded to the neighborhood and set up "containment positions" around the home. While the Crisis Intervention Unit and Tactical Operations were en route, police then said Hollins fired his shotgun twice at neighboring homes.
Additionally, police said that on multiple occasions over the next several minutes, Hollins opened his side door and threw "incendiary devices similar to a Molotov cocktail" at a neighboring home. The devices smoked for several minutes but didn't cause major damage, police said.
During this time, a neighbor called 911 to report that one of Hollins' shotgun blasts had entered the home and a resident was struck by several shotgun pellets. The wounds were superficial.
Body camera footage begins again after a recording of radio traffic, which includes audio from police at the scene describing Hollins entering and exiting the home with a gun in his hand.
In the footage, an officer is heard speaking over a police cruiser PA speaker telling Hollins to put the shotgun down and step outside and that officers wanted to help. The footage cuts to a different vantage, and two gunshots can be heard. Police relay that Hollins is shooting at a neighboring home.
Police decided to evacuate surrounding neighbors. At about 11:40 a.m., police said officers approached a nearby home to evacuate neighbors, and at the same time, another officer providing cover saw Hollins appear in the doorway.
According to the department, that officer saw Hollins point his shotgun in a firing position in the direction of the other officers. The officer fired a single shot, striking Hollins in the chest and killing him.
The department released body camera footage of the moment Hollins was shot from both the perspective of one of the officers evacuating neighbors and the officer who fired the shot. None of the footage showed a clear image of Hollins, which the department attributed to the officers' "distance and tactical positions."
Several officers entered the home, where Hollins appeared to be lying on the floor near the door. Footage showed an officer outside the home approaching and grabbing the shotgun, which was still partially sticking out of the doorway.
Detectives located six shotgun shells at the scene. Police said further investigation revealed Hollins had tried to create an explosion by microwaving several live shotgun shells.
The department previously said the officer who shot Hollins is 30 years old and has six years of law enforcement experience.
In a Tuesday news release that announced the release of the footage, the St. Louis County Police Department said that per its General Order, it has a goal to release relevant body camera and dash camera footage, as determined by the police chief, within 45 days of an incident involving county officers. The shooting of George Hollins occurred before the order was approved and is outside that 45-day window, the department said.
The video may be viewed on the St. Louis County Police Department's YouTube page.
Editor's note: The contents of the above video may be upsetting. Viewer discretion is advised.
