Body cam footage shows deadly shooting of armed suspect with a knife near Turlock

Body cam footage was released Friday of a May 5 deadly encounter between Stanislaus County sheriff's deputies and an armed suspect.

The Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office released the footage, which contains dispatcher audio of the initial call to authorities, on social media.

It all happened on East Monte Vista Avenue and North Quincy Avenue, just outside of Turlock, when deputies responded to a report of a suspicious person trespassing on private property while armed with a knife.

Dispatcher audio captured the moment the caller said he already kicked the individual off of his property twice.

"I don't know if he's on drugs or if he's drunk, but he is just having a fit out here," the caller said. "I did notice that he does have a knife on him, too."

That suspect was later identified as Kevin Frey, 44.

Stanislaus County Sheriff Jeff Dirkse narrates the video released on Friday. Sheriff Dirkse said the responding deputy, Deputy Rose, located Frey at the scene trespassing with the knife visibly in his hand. The footage shows the deputy repeatedly asking Frey to drop the weapon, with Frey refusing and stating multiple times that he would leave the scene.

Deputy Rose can be heard telling Frey that he was not free to leave and needed to put his hands in the air. Frey is seen walking away from Rose from East Monte Vista to North Quincy.

An additional deputy responded, as well as officers from the Turlock Police Department. All law enforcement officials surrounded Frey from all directions as they continued attempts to get him to drop his weapon and surrender.

Sheriff Dirkse said the negotiations on North Quincy lasted another 15 minutes, during which, Frey claimed to have a gun in his backpack and threatened to stab Deputy Rose. At this time, crisis negotiators were called to the scene but didn't after law enforcement shot Frey.

Body cam footage shows Deputy Rose's continued attempts to get Frey to drop the knife and surrender, and Frey repeatedly saying he was going to charge the deputy with a knife.

Minutes later, Frey, who had been in a sitting position, got up and walked toward Deputy Rose with the knife in his hand. Sheriff Dirkse said Frey covered 27 feet in 8 seconds before another deputy fired his gun at Frey.

Frey fell to the ground after a single shot from the deputy. Frey, who still had the knife in his hand, refused continued commands from law enforcement to drop it, Sheriff Dirkse said.

Law enforcement officials slowly moved in on Frey to detain him and perform life-saving measures, including CPR. Frey was loaded into an ambulance and taken to an area hospital, where he was declared dead.

Deputies recovered the knife, and there was no gun located in Frey's backpack.

Frey was later found to have had eight prior arrests, between 1998-2004, for various misdemeanor offenses. On May 1, 2024, Frey had set his own apartment on fire and he was wanted on felony arson charges, Sheriff Dirkse said.