[Illusion]

Fort Bend, TX - A video released Wednesday shows the last few minutes in the life of Michael Blair who died in a hail of gunfire last year from a Fort Bend County sheriff's deputy.

In the last seconds of the video, Blair - holding a knife but already struck several times by a stun gun - appears to stumble toward the deputy standing in the bathroom doorway at the family's Rosenberg-area home.

The deputy shouts for the man to stop, then begins firing.

The video appears to show the deputy continuing to shoot almost a dozen times, the pistol following Blair as he collapses to the floor.

Anguished screams from family members can be heard as they are hustled out of the home.

Community activist Quanell X on Wednesday called the shooting "nothing less than a cold-blooded execution."

Blair's family gave the video to the Houston media and said they intended to hand over a copy to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

It was never provided to local investigators, so was not taken into account by a Fort Bend County grand jury that declined to issue an indictment in the case.

A Fort Bend County Sheriff's official said the department could not comment on something it hasn't seen.

"We consider it evidence and it needs to be turned over to the proper authorities," said sheriff's spokesman Bob Haenel.

The deputy, an 11-year veteran, was sent to the home in the 7000 block of Dawn Bloom on Nov. 4, because Blair had locked himself in a bathroom and was threatening to harm himself, officials said.

Blair's family said they called 911 only after several hospitals told them that was the proper course in the case of someone who was possibly suicidal.

"All this family wanted was somebody to help. This young man did not have to die," the activist said, standing outside the U.S. Attorney's Office in downtown Houston.

The video shows the deputy standing with another officer in front of a closed bathroom door.

"If you don't open this door, we're going to kick it in," the deputy said.

"We want to do this the easy way. Don't make us do it the hard way."

After several attempts jiggling the knob, the door opens slightly, allowing the deputy to see inside the bathroom.

"He's got a knife. He's got a knife," the deputy yells, as the doors shuts again.

He kicked open the door and shouted at Blair to "Stay down. Stay down."

He told the other officer to use the Taser and continued ordering Blair to drop the knife.

The video shows the deputy trying to coax Blair to disarm himself, telling him he didn't want to shoot him.

"We're trying to help you. Let it (the knife) go. Do it now," the deputy said.

The confrontation lasted about 20 minutes.

"All we're asking is that someone recognize what we recognize - that was brutality," said Blair's mother, Kimberly Blair-Olaniyi.

Quanell X would not say why an apparently hidden camera was aimed at the bathroom door during the violent confrontation.

He said the family wanted to release the video after local investigations were concluded.

"These cases are always lies and truths are not told," he said. "We have a tape to expose those lying hypocrites."

The activist said the man's family wants a federal civil rights investigation into Blair's death and will likely file a lawsuit.

"We forgave that officer," Blair's mother said. "We want him to live a long life so he will always remember my son and how he murdered him in that bathroom."

The sheriff's office was creating a crisis intervention team and training the deputies to deal with mental health problems at the time Blair was fatally shot. Haenel said the 10-member team is now operational.

[kellyhound]

Quanell X is full of shit imo and the hidden cam shows to me the cop handled it the right way as when someone doesn't go down by multiple tasering you want to make sure he doesn't come near you, especially if they carry a deadly weapon, as maybe 3 or 4 bullets wouldn't have stopped this mentally ill guy. The mentally ill have super powers like people on pcp keep on walking with multiple bullets inside their bodies.

[blancadon]

Job well done.

[Zodiac1974]

FUCK OFFFFFF! You FUCKING COP bashing Morons! Seriously think it through you fucking idiots., heres a scenario: Some evil member of society shows up on your door step and Rapes your daughter, steals your money and then punches your head in.. then what the FUCK would you expect the police to do about it?????

Oh ok, lets let the fucker go because he has a drug dependency, or he is mentally ill.? What the fuck are some of you people idiots.?

Let me put the ball back in your court, your faced with a life and death situation. you have only seconds to make a decision, would you have time to assess if the aggressive opposition has an weapon, a mental illness? what colour he is? if he has recently got married and has a two year old child?
NO YOU FUCKING WOULDN'T!
You would do what ever it takes to survive the situation. so instead of continuously judging the actions of Cops. how about some of you start judging the FUCKTARDS that put them selves in those situations to begin with!

[tecumseh35]

The cop should get a medal. Damn fine police work.

[bmctvsh]

The threat (bad guy moving toward the officer with a knife) was stopped. Good guy (police officer who ordered the threat to drop the knife many times) goes home, safely, at the end of his shift. It is unfortunate that there was loss of life...but I always like to see the good guy prevail.

[dreamsneverend]

Sad situation... cops did the best with a mental health crisis, that ends up being dealt with by men carrying guns, rather than doctors.

This guy should have not been at home and under care in some institution.

I don't think that just because someone is crazy, has a mental break, or is high on drugs, they deserve to die. You can't put that crap on law enforcement, and not expect something like this to possibly happen.

[Thefear]

the officer handled that very well

[Douggie]

What a fucking idiot.
All the patience and humanity he was showing at the beginning and pretty much through out. Was thrown out the window when he fuckin open up on the boy's ass.

[1970johnnyhunter]

damn. filled that fucker full of lead. but hey, the cop just did his job and did it as trained. when you decide to shoot to stop a deadly threat, you don't mess around. you shoot till the threat is stopped.