Raleigh cops release bodycam footage of shootout with 15-year-old mass shooter
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The first body camera footage of the shooting of police officers with a 15-year-old mass shooter in North Carolina has finally been released, seven weeks after an assault that killed five people, including the shooter’s teenage brother, along with a dog. from the neighborhood.
The video, approximately 12 minutes long, shows a portion of the officers’ heated shootout with Raleigh resident Austin Thompson, and was released Thursday by the Raleigh Police Department.
It shows officers trying to track down the shooter who had been staying in a barn in Raleigh’s Hedingham neighborhood after murdering his 16-year-old older brother, James Thompson, at the nearby family home.
Before officers arrived on the scene, Thompson would also fatally shoot her neighbor Nicole Connors, 52, before shooting dead bystanders. Susan Karnatz, 49, and Mary Marshall, 35. Also killed were police officer Gabriel Torres, 29, who was off-duty and heading to work at the time, as were Connors’ dog, Sami.
The poignant clip shows multiple angles of a portion of the teen’s hours-long apprehension by police, during which one officer was hit in the knee but survived.
Agitated footage shows the officer screaming in pain upon receiving the injury, and it was taken over a period of about 5 minutes, roughly an hour and a half. after police officers were called to the scene.
Approximately three hours later, the suspect was taken into police custody, after suffering multiple injuries, including a gunshot wound to the head.
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The first body camera images of the shooting of police officers with a 15-year-old mass shooter were released Thursday and show part of an hour-long shootout between the gunman and officers.
It shows officers trying to locate the shooter, a 15-year-old Raleigh resident, who had been staying in a barn in the city’s Hedingham neighborhood after killing his 16-year-old brother.
The poignant clip shows multiple angles of a portion of the teen’s hours-long apprehension by police, during which one officer was hit in the knee but survived.
Thompson’s rampage began shortly after 5:30 p.m. and saw two other injuries, including the aforementioned Officer Casey Clark, who went down after being shot, but has since been released from the hospital.
The summary video begins shortly after, when the police were called to a trail near the Neuse River Greenway where residents had heard multiple gunshots.
The footage shows officers fanning out around the barn where Thompson had hidden, accompanied by K-9 units that tried to sniff out the suspect, who was described by neighbors as a white male in camouflage.
The officers can be seen huddled in a fenced-in piece of land in the wooded area in the footage, which contained several sheds the shooter could have taken shelter in.
“We’re on a track,” one of the officers can be heard saying in the footage.
Another clip, from Clark’s body camera, shows the moment he was shot, causing him to curse in pain before he was finally dragged away to take cover behind another shed out of the line of fire.
That clip shows the team members trying to help their fellow officer by applying a tourniquet to his knee, to which Clark assures them, “I’m nauseous, but I’m fine.” His injuries were not life-threatening, and he was treated and released from a local hospital.
Approximately three minutes later, deafening gunshots begin to ring out, forcing the officers to return fire and take cover while they try to locate the gunman.
What follows is a particularly intense shootout, one in which officers fired more than 20 shots in total.
Amid the chaos, as officers fan out in search of the gunman, Officer Clark can be seen falling to the ground in anguish, after what was later determined to be a bullet struck him in the knee.
As Clark writhes in pain, the officers proceed to fire several more shots, and two Raleigh officers, as well as four Wake County deputies, are seen firing their firearms in the direction of where the shot came from in the images.
Gunman Austin Thompson (right) shot his older brother James (left) and then killed four others in an unexplained rampage in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The gunman first began shooting on Sahalee Way, then headed toward the Neuse River Greenway, where he shot some of the victims. He fled to a barn and was apprehended from there.
At this point, the law enforcement officers hide behind the trees to assess the situation and try to discern where the suspect was hiding.
As the cops search for the suspect, the gunman returns fire, from a barn where the video indicates he had been hiding. The officers in the footage appear to be aware of that fact, but do not know the exact whereabouts of the shooter in the annex building.
Another clip, from Clark’s body camera, shows the moment he was shot, causing him to curse in pain before he was finally dragged away to take cover behind another shed out of the line of fire.
That clip shows the team members trying to help their fellow officer by applying a tourniquet to his knee, to which Clark assures them, “I’m nauseous, but I’m fine.”
His injuries were not life-threatening, and he was treated and released from a local hospital.
Off-duty police officer Gabriel Torres was also shot and killed. He was on his way to work at the time. The gunman also shot the dog of his neighbor, Sami.
A call then appears on screen during the clip, which cuts out before the officers make any progress in subduing the gunman.
It stated that “after the exchange of fire, officers established a perimeter to keep the suspect contained in the annex building for the safety of the nearby community due to concerns about the nature of the weapons he possessed.”
The notice also noted how officers were told on the initial 911 call that the suspect was armed with “multiple firearms” as well as “possible hand grenades as reported in [the] Call 911.
Eyewitnesses at the time said they saw Thompson, who was recently released from hospital, dressed in camouflage clothing with a backpack and black boots, crouching, and said he was “between 13 and 16 years old” and appeared extremely young. .
‘He looked like a baby. I don’t even have the words to explain it. This is not OK.
Law enforcement officers congregated outside an armored car at the Aldi on New Bern Avenue in Raleigh near the Nuese River Trail on the day of the shooting.
A heavily armed alcohol law enforcement officer near the residential neighborhood of Hedingham on the day of the massacre
The white car of slain police officer Gabriel Torres, 29, is seen in an image broadcast by WRAL News in Raleigh the night of the shooting.
In addition to the murders, Thompson’s rampage saw others injured before officers arrived on the scene: special education teacher Marcille ‘Lynn’ Gardner, 60, who police say is now walking again after a stay in the hospital for a week.
Meanwhile, Thompson is said to have suffered at least one gunshot wound to the head during the chaos. Recently released from hospital, his condition is said to be improving, police sources told WRAL News on Thursday, but he remains in custody.
The suspect was taken into custody approximately four and a half hours after receiving the first 911 call, and sources told the station that he also sustained multiple additional injuries during the confrontation.
At one point, a drone was sent to the barn to try to negotiate with the suspect, but the drone malfunctioned, authorities said.
After 9:30 p.m., officers were finally able to enter the building, where they found Thompson lying on the ground. It is not yet clear when he got the weapons used in the shooting.