Police camera shows final moments before man killed Flagstaff officer

Warning: Graphic content

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- Officer Tyler Stewart was shot and killed while responding to a domestic violence call last month. The suspect then took his own life.

Stewart was wearing a body camera and it captured the shooting and the final moments of his life.

The video released by the Flagstaff Police Department begins in Stewart's patrol car on the afternoon of Saturday, Dec. 27. The officer was out looking for a suspect in a domestic violence case.

Stewart found the man, 28-year-old Robert Smith in a neighborhood off West Clay Avenue in Flagstaff. Stewart calmly questions Smith about what happened between him and his girlfriend.

During their conversation, Stewart asks to search Smith to make sure he doesn't have any weapons. In a split second, things took a deadly turn.

The video is too graphic to show, but Flagstaff PD says you can hear three gunshots and the camera goes to the ground. Then three more shots from Smith's .22 caliber handgun. The body camera moves slightly all within a four second time frame.

After the sixth shot, there is nine seconds of silence, followed by what investigators believe is the sound of Stewart's service weapon cycling, then a final and seventh round is heard.

Stewart was pronounced dead a short time later. He had been on the force for less than a year. He was 24 years old.

FlagstaffCrime and Public Safety