Evansville police release bodycam of an officer shooting armed domestic violence suspect

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The suspect shot overnight by an Evansville Police Department officer has been identified as 47-year-old Tyler Parrot.

Officers say Parrott aimed a gun at them while standing over a woman and two children.

Thanks to officer body camera footage which EPD officials released Monday, we have a look of what happened last night.

They point out that the two officers first on scene had only seconds from the time they arrived until they had to decide what to do when a man pointed a gun at them.

Police officials say it started around 9:15 that evening when they got a 911 call reporting domestic violence in progress.

The dispatcher learned a man was drunk, and may have been going to get a gun.

They also learned Parrott had been abusive in the past and had just thrown the family cat at a woman.

“At one point, the child was on the phone talking about what was happening inside of her home, and officers don’t get to hear that,” says Officer Taylor Merriss. “They just have to react on what they see and observe, and we can’t speak highly enough of these officers and the actions that they took yesterday.”

Within four minutes, officers arrived at the home.

They told Parrott to drop the gun, but instead he raised it and aimed it at the officers.

One of them fired a single round, which hit Parrot in the chest.

“When there are two children in the home, a mother that’s scared, they called us for help, and he’s basically hovering over them, and we can’t retreat,” says Merriss. “We have to go in that home or unfortunately result in the situation that resulted in last night. We have to make sure that people are safe.”

EPD officials say Parrott is in intensive care.

His charges include domestic battery in the presence of a child, neglect of a dependent and animal cruelty.

EPD officials say they commend the officers for the way they handled an extremely sensitive situation.

“You think about the future for these kids and what Christmastime is going to be like for them,” says Merriss. “You think about the mother that was going through an abusive relationship. And so I’d like to note that if somebody is a victim of domestic violence and needs to get out, there are plenty of ways to do that in Evansville.”