Charleena Lyles, 30, was shot after police saw her holding a knife. She was known by officers to have been struggling with mental health issues.
An audio recording of the encounter released by police last night indicated the officers spent about two minutes calmly speaking with Ms Lyles before the situation quickly escalated.
“Get back! Get back!” an officer says, and a woman’s voice responds, “Do it! Do it!” An officer radios “We need help!” and the police say “Get back!” again three more times before five gunshots are heard.
She had reported a stolen Xbox video game unit.
Police in the US city said the officers immediately performed first aid following Sunday’s shooting, but medics arrived and determined she had died.
Ms Lyles had threatened officers with long metal shears after they responded to a domestic disturbance at her home.
On the audio recording the officers are heard discussed a “safety caution” about the address stemming from the previous incident.
They also talk about the woman making “weird statements” about her and her daughter turning into wolves.
Ms Lyles’ family claimed the fact she was black was a factor in the shooting. It follows a string of police shootings in America ni recent years which sparked the “Black Lives Matter” protest movement.
“Do our lives really matter to them?” asked Kenny Isabell, a cousin. “What do you want from us? We try to comply and this is still happening. You’re killing our young men and now a young woman has died.”
He said she was depressed but not violent and “was going through some things in her life.”
A Department of Justice investigation in 2012 found that the Seattle Police department regularly used excessive force. However a federal monitoring report in April showed that use of force incidents by officers had decreased since the investigation.
The two officers involved, who have not been identified, have been placed on administrative leave.
