Authorities in Connecticut have released bodycam footage showing the interaction between police officers and a teen who died early Sunday morning after what they described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The video shows East Hartford police speaking with a 17-year-old male from Hartford, who police believed had left a restaurant in the 1200 block of Main Street without paying the bill.
Officers were dispatched to the Triple-A Diner around 5 a.m. on Saturday after reports that four customers had left the restaurant without paying, NBC Connecticut reported.
After police saw four men get into an Uber outside the restaurant, officers followed the car and stopped it at the intersection of Main and Orchard streets. according to the local ABC affiliate WTNH.
While officers were patting the young man down and telling him they were going to bring him back to the restaurant so he could pay the rest of the bill, the teen managed to run away and flee on foot, the footage shows.
A short time later, officers heard a gunshot.
The teen was then found in the 1100 block of Main St. with a gunshot to his right leg.
Police said the wound was self-inflicted. Investigators also said the gun that was found next to him was stolen.
The young man was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, but died during surgery.
In the video, the still-unidentified victim repeatedly asks the officers if he could call his mother.
The footage also shows the officer running after the young man, telling him not to move.
“I heard a gunshot,” the officer can be heard saying. “I think he shot himself in the leg.”
