The New Orleans Police Department released body camera footage Friday of the shootout between three officers and the attacker who crashed his truck into pedestrians on Bourbon Street in the early hours of New Year’s Day, killing 14 people.
The approximately 10-second footage shows two police officers with their weapons drawn in front of the open driver’s side door of a white van. A voice can be heard shouting “put your hands up” before gunfire erupts and officers and some pedestrians run from the vehicle. The police department also released a slower version of the same video, as well as a still image showing what appears to be a muzzle flash from the attacker’s gun.
It was the first time that details of the shooting, including the names of the officers who killed the attacker, Shamsud-Din Jabbarwere released.
Police Commissioner Anne Kirkpatrick identified the officers who shot the attacker as Sgt. Nigel Daggs and officers Christian Beyer and Jacobie Jordan. She called them “national heroes” and said they “clearly” acted in accordance with the law and department policy in the shooting. The body camera footage comes from the camera of another officer, who does not appear to have fired his weapon.
“It’s clear that the officers were fully compliant with the policy,” she said at a news conference Friday morning. “So we have no concerns about that.”
Kirkpatrick said Daggs is a 21-year veteran of the police force. Beyer has been an officer for a year and 11 months, and Jordan for a year and nine months, she said.
A person who answered the phone at a number listed for Daggs directed a reporter to the department’s press office.
Jordan did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Beyer could not be reached.
Kirkpatrick said Jordan and a fourth officer, Joseph Rodrigue, a 10-year veteran who did not fire his firearm, were both wounded in the thighs and have since been released from the hospital.
Kirkpatrick could not answer whether the officers may have been hit by friendly fire, saying the FBI would investigate that matter.
This week, Kirkpatrick announced that the department was bringing in William Bratton, who was the best cop in Boston, New York and Los Angeles, to advise the city on its security measures after the deadly attack.
Bratton, 77, a more than 50-year law enforcement veteran, was hired as a tactical expert to assess security in the city after criticism of security measures in place during New Year’s celebrations.
At a news conference Thursday to formally introduce Bratton in his new position, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said, “This is going in the right direction in terms of improving public safety measures in the city of New Orleans as we prepare to host national events. like the Super Bowl and even Mardi Gras.
Cantrell said New Orleans is “taking steps to ensure that our city is safe for our residents, that our city is safe for our visitors and for the long term.”
Bratton said he and his partners would look at “how can we identify the issues that need to be addressed, the new ones that have emerged as a result of this event in the area of counterterrorism.” The terrorist threat domain is constantly evolving and changing.
“The idea here is a learning experience, but that learning experience is then focused on prevention, preventing something like this from happening again,” he said.
The circumstances of the terrorist attack remain under investigation. The busy Bourbon Street did not have vehicle safety barriers, known as terminalsin place at the time of the attack. The barriers, which sometimes malfunctioned, had been in use for several years and were removed for replacement before the city hosted the Super Bowl in February. The city also had access, but deployment failure the 700-pound steel Archer barriers he had previously used to protect crowded streets.
Cantrell and Kirkpatrick defended the city’s response, saying there were temporary security measures, police vehicles and a significant law enforcement presence throughout the French Quarter.
“This man was going to do his best, and if it hadn’t been on Bourbon, he would be going somewhere else,” Kirkpatrick said last week.
