HAMMOND, La. — A Hammond police officer shot an unarmed man last year during a no-knock warrant. Now, the officer has shared his acount of the shooting.
According to WBRZ, Internal Affairs spoke with officers two months after victim, Lionell Jackson was shot in his home in Hammond. The WBRZ Investigative Unit obtained an audio from the officer who shot Jackson, Craig Dunn.
In the audio Dunn recounts what happened during the shooting on Jul. 15 last year. Body cam footage obtained Wednesday showed that Dunn did not have his body camera on. It led to more questions about why Jackson, who was "allegedly in his bed during the raid", was shot.
Dunn told investigators that he and other officers announced that they were police. He said they gave several commands before they proceeded further into Jackson's home.
Our partners said Dunn saw Jackson running from the bathroom to his bedroom after the officers gave him commands to stop. He said Jackson did not comply and they then saw Jackson when he entered the hallway.
Dunn explained that the lights were off and he could not see into the room, "he makes a motion to come at me with something in his right hand," WBRZ reported.
According to our partners, Dunn said he thought what turned out to be Jackson's cell phone was a gun and "I was the first one, so I felt my life was threatened, and I needed to protect the guys behind me,".
WBRZ said Dunn told investigators that he was unsure if another officer found a gun inside of the home after the shooting.
Investigators asked Dunn why his body camera was not turned on and he responded that he was wearing a camera, "attempted to activate it, but was unware of its status."
However, Jackson's lawyer, Daryl Washington said things did not add up Thursday during an interview.
"He didn't say, 'hey, I thought he had a gun in his hand, I thought he had a black object,' that's what someone who didn't mean to cause harm would've said. He didn't show compassion," WBRZ reported.
Our partners at WBRZ reached out to Dunn's attorney, who had no comment.
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