Body cam video shows slain Fargo officer was 'nanosecond' away from firing on gunman

Jul. 24—FARGO — Newly-reviewed body camera video shows a previously unknown act of bravery from the

July 14 shootings of three Fargo police officers.

North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley said

Officer Jake Wallin's

body cam footage shows Wallin unholstered his gun and nearly got a round off on the gunman,

37-year-old Mohamad Barakat.

Wrigley told The Forum he hasn't yet seen the video firsthand, but described what agents with the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) said they saw when they viewed it.

"Both the agents who saw it agree that he was just a nanosecond away from being able to pull off a round when he was struck by the single bullet," Wrigley said of Wallin.

Based on the first few videos available, it was announced at a July 21 news conference that the 23-year-old officer was the first of three to be shot by Barakat as they processed the scene of a routine traffic crash on 25th Street and Ninth Avenue South.

Wrigley said that's because Wallin was closer to Barakat's vehicle parked in a business complex parking lot just west of the crash site, a step-and-a-half in front of the other two officers.

One early video reviewed was from a surveillance camera on Big Top Bingo, south of the crash scene. Wrigley said it shows the back of Barakat's vehicle from the passenger side at a severe angle, some distance away.

In body camera video from Officer Zach Robinson, who ended the threat by shooting and killing Barakat, Wallin's knees appear to buckle as if he were going down, Wrigley said.

But when BCI Chief Agent Casey Miller and others were able to get Wallin's body cam footage downloaded, they saw something different, Wrigley said.

Wallin wasn't falling but was lunging to the side, tossing a tablet from his right hand to his left hand in one swoop, then pulling out his service weapon in an effort to get off a shot.

It was alarming how close Barakat was to the officers.

"You can see the gas come out of the firearm... the gas from the rounds," he said.

Wrigley said video indicates the three officers were fired upon in rapid succession.

Officer Andrew Dotas went down first, then Officer Tyler Hawes, wearing a neon traffic vest over his uniform, then Officer Wallin. Robinson was still out in the street at the crash site when the shooting began.

Dotas and Hawes are still hospitalized and recovering from their serious injuries, as is Karlee Koswick, the driver of one of the vehicles in the traffic crash who was shot by Barakat as she tried to run away.

Wrigley said the other two police videos don't show as much of the incident, as Hawes' body camera came off when he was shot and Dotas ended up on his back when he was shot, with the camera aimed straight up.

Wrigley said he's eager to get all of the videos released sooner rather than later, perhaps next week.

On July 21, authorities revealed that

Barakat had been planning a much larger public attack.

They said Barakat searched online for articles about mass casualty incidents and the Downtown Street Fair, suggesting to authorities he intended to open fire on thousands of people attending the event.

His vehicle was also loaded with

three long rifles, four handguns, more than 1,800 .223-caliber bullets, three canisters filled with gasoline and two propane tanks filled with Tannerite, explosive materials used for target practice.

Two of the rifles had scopes,

and one had a binary trigger,

Wrigley said. That trigger, on the gun used to shoot at officers, can fire one bullet when the trigger is pulled and a second round when the trigger is released.

It's not known yet why Barakat stopped near the accident scene, which he cased for several minutes before parking in the lot of the business complex.

A

funeral for Wallin was held Saturday, July 22

, in Pequot Lakes, Minnesota for family, friends and fellow officers.

A public service in Fargo takes place at 1 p.m. Wednesday, July 26, at Scheels Arena.