NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans police have released surveillance video and body-worn camera video of events leading up to an officer involved shooting at the Laguna Creek apartments in New Orleans East.
The shooting happened on May 17, as police responded to reports of an aggravated assault at the complex in the 6800 block of Parc Brittany Boulevard.
The video shown to reporters Tuesday showed the man fire a single shot at the officers, with officers returning fire and the man falling to the ground.
NOPD Superintendent of Police, Shaun Ferguson, said that it appears the man, identified as 40-year-old Donald Davis Jr., dared the officers to fire.
"It appears from the body cam footage that the individual made a remark to the effect of 'shoot me, I dare you.'"
Police said Davis was armed with a weapon and sustained multiple gunshot wounds and expired on scene. Three of the responding officers did fire their weapons."
Ferguson identified the three officers involved in the shooting as Kevin Nguyen, Stephen Jones and Wayne Lewis. He said that all of the officers should be returning to regular duty by the "end of the week."
Per NOPD standard practice, the officers involved in this incident were reassigned to administrative duty, pending the outcome of the investigation.
Several neighbors told WWL-TV Davis was a resident of the apartment complex. They said he was upset with the leasing office and threatened to shoot someone there. Davis reportedly left the office and an employee called police.
Police reportedly arrived as Davis was returning to the leasing office for a second time, still armed with a gun.
All officers involved in the incident were wearing their body-worn cameras. Those cameras were in operation and captured the incident.
No officers were hurt during the shooting.
According to an NOPD statement, "NOPD’s Force Investigation Team (FIT) is working closely with the federal consent decree monitors, Independent Police Monitor, U.S. Attorney’s Office and FBI to ensure a thorough and transparent investigation."