Moment SWAT Officer Shoots Suspect Holding Sword Without Warning

This is the moment a police officer opens fire on a man holding a sword seconds after arriving at an hour-long standoff.

Body-worn camera footage from 29th August shows the shooting on Cheshire Drive in Nashville, in the US state of Tennessee.

The video shows the officer getting out of his vehicle, moving ahead of colleagues and firing three shots.

Jason William Sexton, 54, was shot outside his car at about 11.25am on Saturday, 29th August, and died at the scene.

Officer Joshua Baney, a 12-year veteran of the force and a member of its SWAT team, has been decommissioned and relieved of all police authority.

Chief John Drake took the decision after a preliminary review, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) is now leading the inquiry.

Baney arrived at what had already been a standoff of about an hour and was told to use his vehicle to block Sexton's car.

Instead, the footage shows him getting out, moving in front of other officers, taking aim and firing within 10 seconds.

Police said Sexton got out of the car armed with the sword and began yelling at officers, with a 26-year-old woman inside who was being held against her will.

The day had begun at 8am with a dispute at a petrol station on Charlotte Avenue over payment for a coffee.

The clerk said Sexton drove off and came back with a full-size sword, shouting: "Come outside now, I'll kill you."

A warrant for felony aggravated assault was issued, adding to existing warrants for breaching a protection order and criminal trespass.

An hour later, a relative called emergency services to say the family believed he was a danger to others, citing videos he had posted showing the sword.

Officers had been looking for him since the previous day, when he evaded arrest, and a police helicopter tracked his car until he stopped on Cheshire Drive.

(Joe Golder/Clipzilla/NX)