Alexandria officer's videos show struggle, shooting of man on Thanksgiving Day

Louisiana State Police on Tuesday released a briefing with new information on the Thanksgiving Day shooting of a man by an Alexandria Police Department officer as they fought on Rapides Avenue, including that the officer fired his gun five times during the struggle.

"Go step on that roadway again," the unidentified officer tells the man just before the struggle started. "I want you to step on that roadway."

The Alexandria Police Department arrested 34-year-old Jason Jamar Shackleford after his Dec. 4 release from a hospital. He had been shot by the officer as Shackleford choked him from behind with his baton, the department alleged when it announced the arrest.

A State Police release on the day of the shooting said the officer had responded to Rapides Avenue after a report about a man running into traffic. The Tuesday briefing says the complaint received reported a man was lying in the street.

The video briefing, released on YouTube, states the officer found the man in an apartment in the 2500 block of Rapides Avenue, which is between Westwood and Eastwood boulevards.

"The subject the officer came in contact with initiated a physical altercation with the officer," according to the video, which also says the incident lasted four minutes and two seconds.

The briefing reveals the officer fired four shots as he was being choked, all of which missed Shackleford. A fifth shot, fired as he still was being choked by his baton, hit Shackleford in his left arm, according to the briefing.

When Shackleford was arrested, he was booked into Rapides Parish Detention Center No. 1 on charges of attempted first-degree murder of a police officer, disarming of a police officer, possession of less than 2 grams of fentanyl, resisting an officer by force or violence and disturbing the peace.

He remains in jail with bail set at $380,500, but he is serving Louisiana Department of Corrections time for a parole violation he also was charged with during his arrest.

No court dates have been set in the case, but an attorney has been appointed for him.

The briefing includes two videos, one from the officer's body camera and the other from his patrol unit's dashcam. A portion of a 911 call also was released.

In the 911 call, a man reports almost hitting a man lying in the street as he drove on Rapides Avenue near the Pentecostals of Alexandria church.

"He's laying in the street like he's on drugs or something like that," said the caller, telling a dispatcher that the man kept "turning over, like he's high or something."

The briefing then focuses on the two videos, displayed side-by-side. Yelling can be heard as the officer approaches the white, single-story building. His face was blurred in the video.

The apartment's door is open, and the officer asks a man wearing a pair of white jeans that are unzipped. As he pulls his pants up, the man tells the officer to "get the f*** up out my door because I already called my grandpa."

He then starts telling someone else in the room that he lied to him and that he's having medical problems. The man keeps asking for medicine, ibuprofen or gabapentin.

The officer and the other man try to calm the man down, but he is agitated. The other man identifies him as his uncle as he sweeps the doorway into the apartment.

As the man continues to rage, the officer tells him to stay in the house because, if he comes back onto the street, "I'm taking him."

"Go step on that roadway again," says the officer. "I want you to step on that roadway."

With that, the man − later identified as Shackleford − charges out of the house, and the fight ensues.

The officer's body camera comes off during the initial struggle and lands on the ground, pointed up. The two can be seen in the upper left corner, and Shackleford can be heard asking the officer if he's done.

The officer tells Shackleford to put his hands behind his back. A bystander is heard saying, "They fighting like men."

In the dashcam video, a man on bicycle circles the two and stops to watch while they struggle. He then cycles out of view.

After they struggle more, the officer fires three shots. A woman screams. The officer fires again. As Shackleford taunts the officer, telling him he shot him twice, sirens can be heard in the distance.

Just before the officer fires again, hitting Shackleford's left arm, he tells the officer his grandfather is the governor. Another Alexandria Police Department unit arrives almost immediately, and Shackleford begins screaming.

The videos end at that point. The briefing then switches to a full version of the dashcam video that shows the struggle and includes another 911 call made during the struggle.

This 911 caller, a female, tells the same dispatcher that an officer trying to make an arrest is down.

"Oh my God, that man needs some help," she says.

She screams when the officer fires three shots. After the fourth shot, the woman begins crying. The briefing ends the 911 call at that point, going back to the full dashcam video and ending with the arrival of the second patrol unit.

Then the briefing switches to a third 911 call, this one also received as the struggle was ending and more police arrived. But the male dispatcher keeps the caller on the line to get information.

The caller described the struggle, saying the man was "getting the best of the police officer" and that a gun was fired.

The last two 911 calls are edited to conceal callers' addresses.

State Police continue to investigate the shooting. They ask anyone with information, photos or videos to contact their investigators through the agency's website, lsp.org, and clicking on the "suspicious activity" link.

Once the investigation is complete, the results will be turned over to the Rapides Parish District Attorney's Office, which will decide whether to file charges.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Videos, 911 calls show struggle, shooting between Alexandria officer, man