Raleigh police release body cam video from officer involved shooting near middle school
By: Raleigh police have released dash cam and body cam footage following a fatal officer involved shooting in March that killed Jorge Luis Vega-Lasama.
According to police, they received several calls about a suspect standing in the middle of the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Coleman Street intersection while shooting at occupied vehicles.
Police said a caller reported the suspect unsuccessfully tried to open the door of a car stopped at a traffic light. Officers got there at 6:57 a.m. and reported seeing the suspect make their way into a nearby residential neighbor on berland Street, Raleigh police said.
Ligon Middle School was briefly put on a lockdown as the situation unfolded a short distance from the school.
Body cam and dash cam video released Wednesday shows Raleigh police Segeant Sirriana arriving to the scene with his K-9 partner Tiara at about 7:06 a.m.
The officer says, “Male in a tank top here to my right where K-9 is.” That officer and another are then seen stepping out of their patrol vehicles with guns in hand.
Officers appear to spot the suspect as they look down the driveway of a home. Several shots are heard coming from the suspect’s direction.
“Shots fired. Shots fired. Suspect is shooting at us,” is transmitted over the radio as officers take cover behind a patrol vehicle. Police said the shots were coming from Vega-Lesama who began to retreat behind a home.
More shots are heard as police stay protected behind their vehicle. They tell dispatch they have no line of sight.
Police said Sirianna returned gunfire with a total of four shots — one of them fatally striking Vega-Lesama.
Officers then call for an urgent EMS response before approaching the downed suspect. Police said he was found with a handgun with an additional magazine lying next to him.
The suspect fired five shots at officers, Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson previously said.