VERY GRAPHIC: Police release bodycam and 911 call of local officer killing knife-wielding man
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EDITOR’S NOTE: The bodycam footage in the player above is EXTREMELY graphic. Please watch at your own discretion.
IDAHO FALLS – The Idaho Falls Police Department has released the body camera footage and 911 call from an officer-involved shooting in December.
Listen to the 911 call and watch the bodycam footage in the player above. IT IS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
IFPD identified the deceased man as 26-year-old Eduardo Trejo De Arcos.
According to a news release from the Idaho Falls Police Department, officers were called at 5:05 a.m. by a man, who stated that his adult daughter had texted him, asking him to call the police because her boyfriend was threatening her.
Officers responded to the apartment at 5:17 a.m., located at 737 Cleveland Street in Idaho Falls.
RELATED | Cop kills knife-wielding man during domestic violence incident in Idaho Falls
In the bodycam footage, two officers are seen knocking at the door, which was answered by De Arcos. The officers state they were there for a noise complaint, and De Arcos let them into the apartment, saying he and the victim had been arguing.
The primary officer, identified as Officer Eric Rose, goes into a bedroom to speak with the victim. She tells the officer that she and De Arcos had been fighting “all night” and that he had pushed her, choked her, and threatened to kill her while “holding a large knife near her head.”
Officers later measured the knife in question and determined it was 14 inches long end-to-end with an 8-inch blade.
The victim told the officer that De Arcos had taken the knife into the front room when officers knocked on the door. She also told police that De Arcos had taken her phone after she had texted her father to call 911.
Rose then walked back into the front room and turned the light on, asking De Arcos what had happened.
De Arcos stated that he and the victim had been arguing, and admitted that he had pushed her, but denied any of the other allegations. The officer then noticed the knife on a dresser drawer that was on the couch in the front room, across from De Arcos.
De Arcos told officers he had brought the knife into the front room when he came to answer the door “just in case” it was the victim’s father. He then stated, “I told her I’d kill her dad if he came over here.”
Rose then informed De Arcos that he was under arrest, and De Arcos lunged forward toward the knife and was able to grab it while wrestling with officers. Rose yells twice for De Arcos to drop the knife, but he does not.
The officers were able to push De Arcos into the kitchen to create distance from them and from the victim. He then turned back toward officers with the knife raised in his right hand, and he was then shot by Rose, once in the left side of his chest.
Officers yelled again for him to drop the knife, and he did before falling to the floor. This part of the video is extremely graphic. The officers then radioed for EMS, and provided emergency aid for De Arcos, but he was later pronounced dead on scene.
“The East Idaho Critical Incident Taskforce (EICIT) responded to conduct an external investigation into the shooting,” the release says. “The EICIT is a team of investigators and professional staff from regional law enforcement agencies who investigate police use of force and other critical incidents. For this incident, the Rexburg Police Department is leading the investigation with assistance from other regional law enforcement agencies.”
IFPD Chief Bryce Johnson held a news conference for local media on Thursday afternoon, where reporters were shown the edited video, which will be published by EastIdahoNews.com. We were also shown the unedited version, which we will not publish due to its extreme graphic nature, but we can confirm that the details released by the police match up with the bodycam footage.
According to Johnson, officers were attempting to preserve a crime scene, which is why they did not secure the knife as soon as it was seen by officers.
“From the very beginning when the officers get there, up until he decides to go for that knife, it is a very calm scene, a very professional interview,” Johnson says. “There was a crime scene there, and they’re going to document the crime scene. That knife is evidence of the crime. It’s been alleged that he committed an aggravated assault, threatened to kill her, and choked her, so there’s a crime scene to be protected.”
Johnson says the officers are taught to protect themselves from deadly force, and adds that Kevlar, or the bulletproof vests officers wear, is not knife-proof.
“He wasn’t trying to get away, he was not trying to get to a window, he was not trying to get to some sort of exit and get away from officers, he was going for that knife,” Johnson says. “Those officers acted to defend life, to defend their lives, and to defend the lives of other people who were on this call.”
According to the release, IFPD responded to over 900 domestic violence calls in 2025. Johnson says he has been in contact with the victim and her family, calling her “very brave.”
“The victim in that call, she’s a very brave young woman,” says Johnson. “She did exactly what we hoped she would do.”
The investigation will be reviewed by the prosecutor’s office to determine if the officer’s actions were justified under the law. IFPD says they will cooperate fully with the investigation, including by providing the EICIT with body camera footage and any other relevant information.
The officer who fired his gun has been placed on paid administrative leave during this stage of the investigation, which is IFPD’s standard procedure for incidents where an officer discharges their service weapon in the course of their duties.