LAFAYETTE, Louisiana — A Lafayette police officer was shot and killed Sunday night at a convenience store on Moss Street by a gunman who was soon taken into custody, said State Police spokesman Master Trooper Brooks David.
Cpl. Michael Paul Middlebrook, a 9-year veteran with the Lafayette Police Department, died Sunday night in the incident, said Lafayette police spokesman Cpl. Karl Ratcliff.
Two other people were injured in the shooting but are expected to survive, David said.
Police were called to the Big Boy Discount Zone around 10:30 p.m. Sunday about an aggravated assault with a gun, but the call was upgraded to a shooting before officers arrived, David said.
When police arrived, gunfire was exchanged with a shooter, David said, with at least one bullet striking and killing Middlebrook. The shooter has not been identified.
State Police were called in to investigate the shooting.
Avery Cross, 29, went to the convenience store, 3601 Moss St., to buy a drink minutes before the Lafayette police officers arrived, he said Monday morning. The front doors to the shop were locked, which was uncharacteristic for the 24-hour store, he said, but soon a store employee came out front to explain there had been a shooting, even pointing out the bullet holes in the window.
A cashier had been injured in the shooting and was in the bathroom waiting for help, Cross said he was told.
Cross said soon after two officers showed up, and one went inside to check on the injured employee. Cross said no one knew the gunman was inside the store.
"The cop didn't know that the (armed) guy was still in there," Cross said. "So when he walked in, the guy popped out and started shooting."
Cross said he heard at least five shots from inside the store. He said the shooter then came outside and fired into the air, yelling at people to back up.
"I heard the shooting and I just started running," Cross said. "When it was happening, the only thought was just to make it home."
After living in that part of Lafayette, Cross said he has seen other shootings before, but he expected the violence to end once police officers arrived.
"When you see a cop you think everything will settle down," Cross said. "It didn't happen like that."
Lisa Zerbe lives across Moss Street from the convenience store, and said she heard at least 40 shots over the span of the shooting Sunday night. She called 911.
"When I heard that many (shots) and I heard people crying, I was like, 'I'm dialing right now,'" Zerbe, 48, said. She said she was on the line with the dispatcher as shots rang out, squatting to stay below the windows. "I mean, it is ridiculous."
Middlebrook was born in Thibodeaux and spent his career in the patrol section of the Lafayette Department "helping and truly serving the community, as was his passion," Ratcliff wrote in a news release.
On the same day funeral plans were being set for the fourth officer to be shot and killed in…
In March, Middlebrook was honored with the state's Heart of Law Enforcement Award for collecting food that would otherwise go to waste and distributing it to those in need.
"The Lafayette Police Department is devastated by this sudden loss," Ratcliff wrote. "We ask that you keep Corporal Middlebrook’s family and the Lafayette Police Department in your thoughts and prayers."
Middlebrook leaves behind a wife, a 3-year-old daughter, two stepdaughters, and his parents, police said in the release.
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