Local

911 calls detail moments before Gwinnett officer shot teen

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Police have released the name of the officer who shot a Gwinnett County teenager who refused to put down a knife Wednesday afternoon.

Channel 2 Action News obtained 911 calls that reveal the teenager’s family is the one who called for help.

On the recordings you can hear a panicked father worried about his children as one son, in his words, goes psycho.

The boy’s stepfather told dispatchers he had called 911 the night before when the teen didn't come home from school. The teen returned home about 11 pm. Police were then called again Thursday morning when the son refused to go to school. The stepfather said he took the teen’s electronics away as punishment.

“I just got a threatening phone call from my 16-year-old stepson threatening everyone in my home,” the father says on the call. “He told me that that's a mistake to put him on punishment because he's there alone with everybody and he's starting to destroy everything in the house.”

Before police arrived, he allegedly cut one of his siblings.

Gwinnett County police Officer Kevin Williams arrived at building 700 in the Sugar Mill apartment complex several minutes later.

Williams radioed in that a man with a knife was coming at him, then 40 seconds later he fired, hitting the teen in the chest.

We brought you the first video from the scene Wednesday afternoon on Channel 2 Action News at 5 p.m. as Gwinnett County police and Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents swarmed the scene.

Officials say the officer gave numerous commands for the suspect to drop the knife.

Witnesses say they heard some haunting words followed by the gunfire.

“Somebody yelled, ‘Don't shoot’ and then there were two shots,” Eli Nunoz said.

Authorities say the 16-year-old is in critical condition.

Gwinnett County police say Williams is 29 years old and has been with the department for 13 months.