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 Footage from the body camera of officer James Spray and a patrol
car dashboard camera showed the woman, Loronda Sweatt, 40, who was
reported to suffer from bipolar disorder, backing the policeman into
a vehicle as she brandished the ax at him.
Spray shot Sweatt twice "as she continued advancing and making
aggressive movement," police said in a statement released with the
video.
Sweatt was pronounced dead at Sumner Regional Medical Center in
Gallatin, about 30 miles northeast of Nashville.
Spray arrived on the scene with two other Gallatin police officers
after a sheriff's deputy accompanying housing officials to Sweatt's
home was himself attacked by Sweatt, who slashed him with the ax,
according to police. The deputy, Gary Pickard, retreated to his
squad car and called for back-up.
 It was moments after Spray and others arrived that the shooting
occurred, according to the police account.
The shooting comes amid heightened national attention and increased
scrutiny of the use of lethal force by law enforcement against
minorities and the mentally ill, following a string of high-profile
fatal shootings of unarmed black people by white police officers.
Spray is white and Sweatt was black. Her mother, Ella Sweatt,
declined to comment. But media reported that she said her daughter
was bipolar and that the housing authority was aware of her
condition.
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Spray has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the
outcome of an internal investigation. Spray, 45, has been on the
Gallatin force for at least three years, the Tennessean newspaper
reported, citing Gallatin Police Chief Don Bandy.
(This story has been corrected to say wielding, not yielding, an ax
in headline)
(Reporting by Justin Madden in Chicago; Editing by Steve Gorman in
Los Angeles, Robert Birsel)
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