Seattle Police Kill Pregnant Woman Who Called 911 For Help

Photo by Ken Lambert for the Seattle Times

UPDATE: The dash-cam audio recording of the incident between the two police officers that shot Charleena Lyles has been released.

Obtained by the Seattle Times the four-minute recording begins with the officers talking about Lyles with one of them saying "Wait, is this the one with like the three kids," and the other responding "Yeah, so this girl, she was the one making all these weird statements about how her and her daughter are going to turn into wolves." The conversation then jumps to the officers and Lyles speaking to each other in her apartment, with Lyles calmly telling the officers about the items that were stolen. The audio then goes to the moment the cops shot Lyles, with both of them screaming "Hey! Get back! Get back," before firing off several shots.

Read the original story below.

A 30-year-old black woman who had called Seattle police officers to report an attempted burglary was shot and killed by two officers after allegedly brandishing a knife.

In a report from the Seattle Times, two officers were responding to a report made by Charleena Lyles about an attempted burglary at her apartment on Sunday morning. At some point, Lyles displayed a knife and the two officers shot and killed her. Lyles' children were inside the apartment at the time of the shooting, but none of them were injured. The 30-year-old was also seven months pregnant.

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"Officers were confronted by a 30-year-old woman armed with a knife," the Seattle Police Department wrote on its website. "Both officers fired their duty weapons, striking the woman."

However, family members of Lyles have questioned why officers shot the 30-year-old mother, describing her as "tiny" and "weighs like, nothing, soaking wet," believing that the cops shot her because she is black.

"Whistey couldn't they have Tased her? They could have taken her down. I could have taken her down," Monika Williams, Lyles' sr, said.

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Seattle Mayor Ed Murray called the incident "a tragedy for all involved" in a statement made Sunday afternoon, adding "My thoughts are with the many people impacted, including three children and the responding officers."

Murray and police Chief Kathleen O'Toole said the shooting will be reviewed by the department's Force Investigation Team and the Office of Professional Accountability. The King County Prosecutor's Office also will review the incident and likely call for a coroner's inquest.

Source: SeattleTimes.com