Nearly a month after a deadly exchange of gunfire injured one U.S. Park Police officer and killed a D.C. resident, body camera footage from the department’s Office of the Inspector General is shedding some light on the moments leading up to the shooting.
Park Police said the footage, released Monday during a community briefing, “shows the significant sections of the body-worn camera footage from the involved USPP officer and is intended to help members of the community gain a better understanding of what occurred.”
“This incident is still under investigation, and all statements in this briefing are based on the details we know at this point,” the department said in a statement.
According to the newly released briefing, officers responded to a suspected drug violation on Nov. 22 “when they attempted to engage with an individual” near Burke Park at the intersection of 12th Street and Massachusetts Avenue in Northwest.
The man, identified by D.C. police as 30-year-old Turell Delonte Campbell of Northeast, was running north on 12th Street NW when the chase began.
A spokesperson for the department tells WTOP that the body camera footage shows the moment a pursuit began.
The unidentified officer, who police said was in civilian clothes and marked Park Police apparel, exited a vehicle and chased Campbell onto M Street Northwest just before the shooting. Other officers in the vicinity were in uniform, the spokesperson said.
At no point in the video can the officer be heard verbally identifying himself as a U.S. Park Police officer. He can be heard, however, telling others that a person was running down the street.
“Get down, you’re [going to] get hurt,” the pursuing Park Police officer said as he chased Campbell down the roadway onto M Street NW.
“No, I’m not,” Campbell can be heard saying in the video.
The Park Police officer can be heard asking for Campbell to show his hands, grabbing his arm moments before a gun, held by Campbell, enters the frame. The officer’s gun was also visible in the video as shots rang out.
The video does not clearly state who discharged their firearm first, nor did it share new details on the recovered firearm. The U.S. Park Police officer, however, can be seen replacing an empty firearm clip as the video comes to a close.
Another unidentified police officer is seen over Campbell’s body some feet away from the injured officer.
WTOP reached out to the department for more information on that police officer’s part in the shooting and to ask if the body camera footage would be shared. That video was not made available ahead of publication.
Police did not share details about the drug charge that sparked the pursuit and the officers involved in this incident have not been identified.
The firing officer, the department said, remains on leave pending an administrative investigation led by the Office of the Inspector General and D.C. Police.
WTOP has included body camera video from the encounter below, which could be disturbing to some. The full community briefing from U.S. Park Police is available online. Viewer discretion is advised.
