District Attorney: Video will show a large part of the story surrounding man's shooting death by Raleigh police

Freeman will be the one to decide if officers broke any laws.

"All of these cases are troubling; they are always a tragedy," said Freeman.

"This is a case where the video ultimately will show a large part of the story," she added.

Video taken by a passing motorist showed a man being shocked with a Taser, falling to the ground and then getting back up. Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson said as officers tried to take the man into custody, "he swung his knife towards officers."

Witnesses said that the man was shot in the chest and head and that several shots were fired, but officials have not confirmed this information to WRAL News. The man, whose identity has not been made public, was transported to a local hospital after the shooting where he later died.

Because there is video online, and so many people witnessed the encounter as it played out alongside the busy highway, a lot of people in the community may have have already formed an opinion about the shooting.

"We do have a video, but there'll be more videos to come. Obviously, the dashboard video from the police officers' vehicles and the body cameras on the officers will gives us a lot more information," said Rick Armstrong, the union representative for the Raleigh Police Protective Association, which counts as members several of the officers involved in Tuesday's shooting.

But Freeman said that there is a meticulous process that all fatal police shootings must go through.

"I think it's important in these cases that a detailed and thorough investigation was done, and we take all that information into consideration in making our decision," said Freeman.

Raleigh Police Department has asked the court to release the body camera footage publicly.

Freeman said she's reviewed all the videos and is waiting on SBI to complete their report.

"Their role, and my role, is to determine whether there had been a criminal violation of the law by the use of forces by the officers who were involved in this incident," said Freeman.

Armstrong said that from the limited video he's seen — officers "did everything they were trained to do and in a proper manner."

"If you don't listen to police officers, there are going to be consequences, and I think that's the most important thing we can take from this," said Armstrong. "This man had a knife ... he could have killed not only one, but a few officers, if they didn't take the actions they did."

"In those situations in which an individual is armed and comes at officers, in those situations, a lot of times the use of force is going to be found to be justified," said Freeman.

Armstrong said he believes the officers acted appropriately, especially when the shock from the Taser barely seemed to phase the man.

"It's the absolute last resort, but sometimes deadly force and shooting your weapon is sometimes the absolute only last option," said Armstrong.

Armstrong said the video also shows what police officers face on a regular basis.

"Everybody should recognize the importance of listening to what the police officers are asking you to do because it is such a highly dangerous and volatile situation," he said. "I hope the public understand [and] our society recognizes the importance of just listening to what the police officer says because when you do that, 99.9 percent of the time everybody's safe, nobody's harmed, and it works out well.

Freeman said it could take several months for the SBI to hand over its report to the DA's office — partially because there are so many potential witnesses along the road they will want to speak with.

However, more information will become available soon since Raleigh police must release a report to the city manager within five days of the incident, according to state law.