WASHINGTON — The Metropolitan Police Department released body camera footage Thursday that captured the deadly shooting of a man accused of opening fire on officers last week.
The shooting happened just before 5 p.m. in the area of the 2800 block of Gainesville Street Southeast near Naylor Road Southeast. According to Paris Lewbel, deputy director of communications with the Metropolitan Police Department, officers were called to the area for reports of a person with a gun shouting at two people.
The accused gunman was later identified as 33-year-old Arthur Porter.
Investigators claim when officers arrived, Porter ran away when they attempted to stop him and the officers chased after him.
During the chase, officers reported that Porter had a gun in his pocket and yelled for him to not pull out that weapon. Police said Porter immediately took out the gun, later identified as a semi-automatic handgun, and began shooting while one officer shot back.
Another officer was hit and fell to the ground while Porter ran between two buildings.
Police say another officer arrived as backup and reportedly witnessed Porter emerge and raise a gun toward them. That is when the second officer began shooting at Porter, who fell to the ground.
Officers attempted to help Porter until DC Fire and EMS arrived. He was taken to an area hospital where he died.
The officer who was shot was also treated at an area hospital.
The body camera video was released Thursday in three YouTube videos, showing the perspective of the three officers involved.
The first video is just short of five-and-a-half minutes but does not actually show the body camera video until 2 minutes and 47 seconds in. The body camera portion opens with officers pulling up to the scene in a car. As the officer gets out of the car, he approaches a man, Porter, who begins walking away. The officer asks Porter to stop several times before reaching for him causing the man to run.
The officer chases after and appears to be speaking into a radio, causing his hand to cover the body camera. It is hard to understand what the officer is saying into the radio but moments later, he shoots at Porter twice.
Porter and the officer both appear to fall to the ground while shots ring out. Moments later, you can hear another officer yell out that he has been shot.
"10-33! 10-33! I'm hit!" the officer yells.
The officer continues chasing after Porter, but after more gunfire, the officer falls to the ground and crawls behind a nearby parked car.
A second body camera video shows another officer chasing after Porter, who is then shot multiple times and falls to the ground.
The third video comes from the body-worn camera of the officer who shot Porter as he emerged from the two buildings. It is a little more than six minutes long and shows the moments after as more officers arrive and begin searching the area.
The officers continue to stand with guns pointed at Porter, as he lays on the ground.
As sirens blare and people are yelling, officers rope off the area and begin to render aid to Porter around four minutes after he was shot.
MPD officials said it's unclear who shot first and whether the officer who was shot, was shot by Porter or another officer.
“That’s what the investigation will reveal. It’s hard for me to look at the video and say. We have good force investigators, as well as our partnership with the U.S. Attorney's Office and they will make those determinations.” said Leslie Parsons, Assistant Chief of Homeland Security Bureau.
Porter’s handgun was recovered on the scene and officials said evidence shows it was fired. However, they could not confirm when the weapon was fired.
Officials say it doesn’t appear the officer who was shot fired his weapon at all.
Parsons told WUSA9, the officer was shot in the back. He has since been released from the hospital and is home recovering.
While the video has been released, police have not identified any of the officers involved in the shooting. Both the officer who was shot, and the officer who shot and killed Porter are on administrative leave, pending a full investigation.