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In this screenshot from a video recorded Thursday, April 16, 2015, by Officer Jesse Kidder, he is shown backpedaling and telling murder suspect Michael Wilcox he doesn't want to shoot him.

(WLWT-TV )

An Ohio man, a suspect in the killing of his girlfriend and his best friend, repeatedly charged at a Kentucky police officer this week, begging him to shoot.

New Richmond Officer Jesse Kidder is now being praised for the judgment call he made that night.

He didn't shoot.

Instead, he backed away while talking to Michael Wilcox, 27, who kept repeatedly telling Kidder, "Shoot me. Shoot me."

The tense confrontation at about 8 p.m. Thursday in the Cincinnati suburb of Elsmere, Kentucky, was caught on a body camera worn by Kidder, according to video posted by WLWT-TV in Cincinnati and other media.

The video shows Kidder backpedaling while telling the charging Wilcox he didn't want to shoot him, despite the suspect's pleas to do so.

"No, man, I'm not going to do it!" Kidder yelled as he pointed his gun.

The suspect charged at Kidder several times before he finally dropped to the ground a few feet away as backup arrived.

Kidder said one reason he didn't shoot is he noticed the suspect's hands were empty.

"For him to make the judgment call that he did shows great restraint and maturity," New Richmond Police Chief Randy Harvey told WLWT, referring to Kidder, a rookie cop. "This video footage, it eliminated all doubt that this officer would have been justified if in fact it came to a shooting."

Kidder told WLWT said he wasn't going to pull the trigger unless he felt it was absolutely necessary.

"Law enforcement officers all across the nation have to deal with split-second decisions that mean life or death. I wanted to be absolutely sure before I used deadly force," Kidder said.

According to authorities, Wilcox admitted he killed girlfriend Courtney Fowler, 25, who was found dead Thursday in a home where they lived in Felicity, Ohio, according to WKRC-TV. He also is a suspect in the Kentucky death the same day of best friend Zach Gilkison, police said.

Kidder's encounter with Wilcox followed a three-county police chase that ended with Kidder stopping the suspect. Kidder has been warned by dispatchers that Wilcox was heading his way and that he might seek to commit "suicide by cop," authorities said.

Wilcox, who is charged with murder, was being held Saturday on $2 million bond.

Officer who took down homicide suspect only been on force for 1 year http://t.co/fjUzaYI7vo pic.twitter.com/A8AS3Z6UxX — WLWT (@WLWT) April 18, 2015

Kidder said a relative gave him the body camera following the deadly officer-involved shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, The Associated Press reported.