Police have released bodycam footage of the moment they shot and killed a man while he held a woman at knifepoint, moments after he attempted to shoot his wife in the head at close range.
Serial abuser Elijah Radford, 45, was accused of strangling his wife, Charminca Kirk, days before he attacked her outside an Indianapolis office building.
He shot her in the hand and dragged her to the ground, but she managed to get to safety when his gun jammed as he pulled the trigger near her head.
Radford, who was suspected of carrying out a hammer attack in 2019, jumped into his car and led officers on a 100mph chase through the city before he was shot dead while holding a terrified woman hostage at knifepoint.
“Non-lethal strangulation is the best predictor of future domestic homicides,” said Kerry Hyatt Bennett of the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence. “We’re lucky she’s still alive out there on the Northwest Side.”
Elijah Radford was shot dead by police while holding a woman at knifepoint, moments after he attempted to shoot his wife in the head at close range.
Graphic police bodycam footage shows moment of fatal shot
Two weeks earlier, a neighbor of Kirk’s needed a baseball bat to save her from Radford after he attacked her in the front yard of their Zionsville Road home.
After police arrived on the scene, he was charged with domestic violence, assault causing bodily harm, and strangulation.
The Marion County court had banned him from contacting his wife, but he lay in wait with a gun at 3 p.m. on June 25 as she emerged from a nearby office building.
He shot her in the hand and tried to shoot her in the head, but she ran back into the building when the gun jammed.
He caught up with her as she struggled to open the door, which was now slick with blood, and tried to shoot her again in the head, but saw the gun’s magazine fall to the ground.
Officers arrived just in time to see his maroon Dodge Ram speed away and engage in a chase onto Interstate 465 before pulling into Maple Leaf Lane seven miles away.
Bodycam footage from two officers shows them approaching a house with their weapons and seeing the door nearly ripped off its hinges as Radford storms inside.
“We need to get in there,” an officer says as screams are heard from an upstairs room and the two officers run up the stairs, where they find a woman with her hands up and Radford holding a knife to her throat.
“Enough, drop the knife!” an officer shouts as the hostage taker struggles with his victim.
A second later, Radford shows his right flank and falls to the ground as a shot rings out.
The woman was unharmed but still screaming as officers unsuccessfully motioned for her to step over the body of her attacker, which lay motionless on the ground.
Police suspect the father of three lived at the address and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The 45-year-old had appeared in court just two weeks earlier, accused of assaulting his wife
The footage shows police approaching the house where he is believed to have been staying
Radford’s gun jammed when he tried to shoot his wife twice in the head at close range
“Elijah had a passion for life and enjoyed traveling and spending precious moments with his family,” an online obituary reads.
“His laughter and joy were infectious and he will be deeply missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing him.”
However, activists are eager to know why the Marion County District Court did not act on the outstanding warrant for the 2019 hammer attack when he appeared in court two weeks earlier.
“My understanding is that they didn’t arrest him on a warrant, but there was a seven-day hold and the district attorney requested a waiver of bail because of his history of domestic violence,” Hyatt Bennett said.
“So if he had been arrested on that warrant before this tragic incident occurred, he would have been in prison for the foreseeable future.
“We don’t want any kind of violence in our community, especially not this. It’s tragic for everyone involved in these situations,” she added.
“There are resources available, we want people to reach out and do their best, if they can, to get out of certain situations.”