Updated with officer’s identity.
After the shooting, Manyoun, who was reportedly intoxicated at the time, was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The coroner’s office on Sunday confirmed Manyoun’s identity.
The officer, Nathan Blanford, a 10-year veteran, was placed on administrative leave while the Louisville Police Department’s Public Integrity Unity investigates the shooting, officials said.
Although much of the altercation was captured on a security camera, opinions about the shooting vary.
Louisville Police Chief Steve Conrad told reporters at the news conference Sunday that he believes Blanford felt his life was in danger, which gave him the option to use deadly force under department policy. “I don’t think the officer had an opportunity to transition to a less lethal option,” Conrad said, according to the Associated Press.
But a man who says he was a witness at the scene disagrees.
“He was drunk,” Kenneth Williams, a witness, told ABC affiliate WHAS. “The officer could have maced him. He could have used his stun gun. He didn’t have to shoot that man. He wasn’t no threat.”
One drawback of #DengManyoun video is no audio. What did he say to the officer? What was said as he approached with the pole? #Louisville
— Philmonger (@phillipmbailey) June 14, 2015
Moments before things turn violent, surveillance video shows Blanford pull his vehicle to the side of the road and approach Manyoun, who can later be seen stumbling on camera. Police said Manyoun was approached because he matched the description of an assault suspect.
Blanford appears calm as he approaches Manyoun and begins talking, but Manyoun appears agitated and begins swinging his arms before walking away. As Manyoun disappears off camera, Blanford follows, but then freezes a few steps later and suddenly reaches for his gun while he radios back to dispatch.
Manyoun appears on camera once again, rushing toward Blanford with a flag pole over his head. The officer retreats backward until he is bent over with his back is against his patrol car. At that point, Manyoun begins swinging the pole at Blanford. The pole appears to strike the officer before breaking in half. Blanford can be seen firing his weapon at Manyoun, hitting him twice.
“The officer retreated and continued to shout commands to drop that flagpole — this man was using as a weapon,” Conrad, the police chief, told the Courier-Journal. “He swung at the officer. Our officer fired two shots to defend himself.”
Neighbors told the paper they were familiar with Manyoun and several hours after the shooting a small vigil had been created where the shooting occurred.
A makeshift memorial for #DengManyoun outside Smoker's Smoke Shop. Per @jeredowns: pic.twitter.com/FkuWbaRUvz #Louisville #BlackLivesMatter
— Philmonger (@phillipmbailey) June 14, 2015
Officers are trained to shoot to startle if they felt it was necessary. He ended #DengManyoun life over a flag pole. #Louisville
— Hands Up United (@handsupunited_) June 14, 2015
Ashley Belcher, an activist with the group Ferguson to Louisville, told the Courier-Journal that her group was demanding that police release video footage of the shooting immediately.
“Their entire case is that he charged the officer and he was responding to an assault,” she said. “If that is the case, they need to prove to us that lethal force was necessary.”
Williams told the Courier-Journal that Blanford heightened the confrontation by placing his hand on his gun shortly before Manyoun picked up the flag pole.
“I’d feel scared too if he was trying to talk to me with his hand on his gun,” he said.
