Knoxville DA releases footage of shooting death of Anthony Thompson Jr

Knoxville District Attorney General Charme Allen said on Wednesday that officers will not be charged in the shooting death of Anthony Thompson Jr.

Thompson, a 17-year-old black student, was a junior at Austin-East Magnet High School in Knoxville, Tennessee, when he was shot to death by police on April 12.

Cops had been responding to a domestic violence complaint made by Thompson's ex-girlfriend's mother when they pursued him at the school. The mother, Regina Perkins, claims Thompson had been violent with her daughter.

He was shot dead in a bathroom stall after a brief struggle with police, who say the teen had a gun.

Allen said during a news conference that the teen's family had begged her not to release the tapes today but she had promised the public she would release them after the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation gave two different versions of the killing.

The TBI had said in the aftermath of the shooting that Thompson had fired at police first and was killed when they returned fire. Then the agency said, two days later, that Thompson's gun did not fire the bullet that struck a police officer.

'This is a self-defense case. At the end of the day, we have found the shooting by Officer Clabough was justified,' Allen said.

'I have just spent four hours with this family and I will tell you that was a painful long agonizing four hours for that family, but we talked about the death of their 17-year-old son, and one thing that family asked me not to do was release those tapes today,' Allen said.

'But because I had made a promise that once I completed the file and once I talked to the family I would release the tapes.'

Allen defended her office's decision not to immediately release the tapes as demands for them grew in the aftermath of the shooting while giving reasoning for the 'quick and thorough turnaround' of the investigation.

'Everybody has demanded those answers right now. And so I don't think my correct response would have been to immediately release only part of the evidence in this case that would have potentially tainted the criminal prosecution,' she said.

'And not only that, I think it would have allowed the community to make rush decisions without all the evidence. Because you know what? Those videos are not the only evidence in this case.'

Allen added that she is 'not at odds' with the media, politicians and advocacy groups that have demanded the release of the tapes.

'We're on the same side, because the side that we're all on is that we want the truth of what happened, we all want justice to be served, and we want all of our kids to feel safe at all of our schools.'

Allen called on changing laws that she said prohibit prosecutors from releasing tapes during an investigation.

She then walked through the events of the day that caused Thompson to lose his life.

At about 12.30pm at Austin-East Magnet High School, Thompson got into a 'domestic incident' with another student, Allen said. The two got into another domestic incident at 12.48pm.

'These two domestic assaults ... are the impetus to this whole day's trajectory,' Allen said, before noting that she would not show the footage of the fights which were released to local news outlets.

Regina Perkins, the mother of Thompson's girlfriend, sent him text messages at 1.16pm. Allen showed those texts to media present during the news conference.

'U better stop what ur doing now ur disrespectful asf and I've called the police! I'm done with ur threats to my daughter and u putting ur gd hands on her. U step foot on my property and u will go to jail period,' Perkins had texted Thompson. 'U will be blocked and goodbye.'

Thompson then responded with 'get off my phone girl.'

The mom then shot back: 'F*** you lil boy.'

The conversation continues before the mom notifies Thompson that she is on the phone with 'Officer Carlos.'

'This is the first notice that Anthony Thompson had that the police were involved or that they were coming. This is what sets the whole trajectory in motion,' Allen said.

Perkins has told the Knoxville News Sentinel that she regrets calling police officers.

Allen then showed security footage from the high school starting at 1.17pm just after Perkins texted Thompson.

'You're going to see him walking around the halls in this video and then you're going to see his response as soon as he receives the text from Regina Perkins,' Allen said.

Thompson is then seen running through the halls of the school and out a door to the outside of the school.

Surveillance footage shows Thompson run across the school parking lot before making his way back toward the building and ultimately re-enters the school around 1.24pm. Another student sitting on the stairwell lets him back into the building.

Thompson is seen hanging out near that exit again until around 1.39pm when he exits the building again and paces in front of the school while talking on the phone.

He enters the school again at 1.51pm and again hangs out in the same area then sits on the stairs, and is seen again on his phone at 1.59pm.

At that same time, Perkins makes her 911 call about Thompson - which was played during the press conference.

'My daughter got into an altercation at school today with an ex-boyfriend … He keeps getting his hands on my daughter, and that happened again today,' Perkins says in the call.

She adds: 'I think her feelings are hurt more than she actually is.'

Perkins explains to officers that Thompson has previously threatened her daughter with a 9mm pistol.

Knoxville Police Department officer Jonathon Clabough, the officer who later fires the shot which killed Thompson, responds to the Perkins address for the 911 call around 2.15pm to 'take the domestic violence report.'

'Something has to be done to stop this,' the concerned mother tells cops in body camera footage.

The girl then tells cops that the two had gotten into an argument stemming from the weekend when she ignored him, 'which frustrated him.'

'I'm tired of the threats, I'm tired of the fights, I'm tired of being scared,' she tells cops while crying.

Officer Clabough then calls the school Security Resource Officer Willson for more information on Thompson - who confi... (Read more)

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