LISTEN: 911 call prior to deadly officer-involved shooting
4 years 8 months 1 week ago Monday, May 09 2016 May 9, 2016 May 09, 2016 10:40 PM May 09, 2016 in News
By: Brett Buffington & Hunter Robinson
BATON ROUGE - At a press conference Monday, Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore addressed a deadly officer-involved shooting on Fairfield Avenue in February and released body cam and dash cam video from the officers who were shot.
His office also released 911 tapes detailing why officers were called to the scene in the first place. You can listen to the call here.
"His name is Calvin Smith," a woman tells the 911 dispatcher. "My daughter has a what do you call it on him?....A restraining order".
That woman's daughter was Calvin Smith's ex-girlfriend. According to the full report released Moore's office today, the break-up caused Smith, 22, to have a breakdown. Investigators found text messages from Smith where he was considering suicide and even contemplating murder.
Just minutes after the 911 call, dash cam video shows Smith get out of his car with a high-caliber semi-automatic rifle and began shooting at the officers.
Both officers were hit by the gunfire, but were able to return fire and strike Smith.
The District Attorney said to this day he still doesn't know how officers Theodore Smith III and Sean Garic managed to survive the firefight. With now released footage of the incident in hand, Moore said he visited with the family of 22-year-old Calvin Smith Monday to show it to them.
The investigation provided an in-depth autopsy of the events. Moore said the gunfire lasted about 20 seconds. Smith opened fire first with an assault rifle. DA Moore calls the newly released videos of the incident "unbelievable" and "troubling." The assault rifle used by Smith in the shooting was reported stolen in 2007.
Moore absolved the officers of wrongdoing in returning fire when he called their actions "not only warranted but necessary to protect themselves and the public." He went on to describe the officers' actions as heroic. Moore also showed the footage to the officers and went over the findings of the report on Monday ahead of the news conference.
Smith and Garic are both fully recovered and back on active duty, according to the District Attorney.