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Report, dashcam video detail suspect's death in February officer-involved shooting

7 years 10 months 2 weeks ago Monday, May 09 2016 May 9, 2016 May 09, 2016 10:52 PM May 09, 2016 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE- Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore announced that a press conference will be held on Monday afternoon to discuss the findings in the death of an alleged shooter that exchanged gun fire with police in February.

Calvin Smith, 22, was involved in a shooting that took place in the 5600 block of Fairfields Avenue in February where two BRPD officers were struck.

Police said that the shooting took place after they responded to a damage to property complaint on Melrose East. A source told WBRZ at the time that Smith showed up to his girlfriend's house where she lived with her mother and her mother's boyfriend.

Sources said that Smith started tearing apart a vehicle in the driveway and got into a fight with the mother's boyfriend. The people who lived at the home called authorities after the Smith began smashing the vehicle's windshield and puncturing tires.

The two officers arrived moments later after Smith left in a separate car and drove to family member's house on Fairfield Avenue.

When officers arrived at the family member's home, Smith got 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.

You can view the full report here. Viewer discretion is required for portions of the videos below as they contain NSFW LANGUAGE:

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