Video released of teenager being shot by officers in police station

Kristiana Coignard, 17, was shot multiple times by officers in Longview, Texas

(Longview Police Department)

Police in Texas have shown video of the moment a teenager was shot and killed in a police station lobby.

Kristiana Coignard was 17 when she was fatally wounded following a scuffle with a police officer on the evening of January 22 in the city of Longview in eastern Texas.

Authorities released video from the police station lobby as the event unfolded. Police state that Coignard entered Longview Police Department at 6:28pm and used the phone in the lobby to request help. She allegedly refused to say why she required assistance.

Officer Glenn Derr can be seen arriving at the lobby in the video. According to police, Coignard told Derr she had a gun and a physical confrontation between the pair followed and can be seen taking place over several minutes in the video.

Police state that during the scuffle between Derr and Coignard, the officer realised that she in fact had a large butcher knife, rather than a gun.

Two other officers then enter the lobby, Gene Duffie and Grace Bagley. Duffie draws his taser as Derr moves away from Coignard.

In the video, Coignard is seen allegedly charging Derr with the knife; police state she did so in a "threatening manner". Longview police say Duffie used his taser on Coignard but it had no effect and thus Derr discharged his weapon three times. Bagley fired her weapon twice.

Coignard was taken to hospital and pronounced dead.

An investigation is now being conducted by the Department of Public Safety Texas Rangers and the three officers have been placed on paid administrative leave.

Coignard's family have questioned why she was shot and have said she had mental health problems.

The shooting is the latest case raising questions about excess police force in the United States. Last year, Michael Brown was shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri; 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot by police in Cleveland, Ohio; and Eric Garner, a 43-year-old black man, died after being placed in a chokehold by a NYPD officer.