Bodycam Captures Shotgun Attack that Wounded NYPD Officer in Face

By Colin Mixson, Emma Seiwell and Thomas Tracy

Source New York Daily News

Before being killed in a shootout that wounded an NYPD officer, a Brooklyn army veteran ambushed his neighbor, shooting him just moments after the victim stepped out of a car to return home, chilling video obtained by the Daily News shows.

Gunman Dashawn Larode was lying in wait in the vestibule of his apartment building before stepping out and fatally shooting 41-year-old Leroy Wallace about 5:30 a.m. Monday (Nov. 17), the video shows.

Wallace was shot nine seconds after he stepped out of the car that dropped him off, the video shows. After shooting the victim once, Larode, 24, can be seen pumping the shotgun as he descends the front steps before shooting Wallace as he lay on the ground.

The video footage comes as family members question the mental state of Larode, a former Army specialist shot dead by police after he opened fire on an officer investigating Wallace’s murder later that morning.

NYPD Officer Sharjeel Waris, 25, narrowly escaped death when he suffered a birdshot wound to the face, officials said.

Larode’s sister, Dashawna Larode, said Tuesday her brother appeared fine a year ago when he was honorably discharged from the Army and moved in with her. But his mood darkened after their apartment on Thomas S. Boyland St. near Hegeman Ave. was burglarized.

“He started to be more paranoid about things,” she said. “I was worried about him. He thought the government was after him, that certain people were going to come after him and kill him.”

Dashawna reached out to Veterans Affairs, asking for help, but was told her sibling had to request counseling, not her, she said.

She was in her room sleeping when her brother killed Wallace and returned to their apartment. She didn’t know anything had happened until police arrived, she said.

“I woke up to the police banging on the walls, banging on everything. Saying, ‘Open up, open up. Drop the shotgun, drop the shotgun,'” she recalled. “I had just woken up. I was really shocked.”

Dashawna called 911, not realizing that her brother was at the heart of the chaos.

Seconds earlier, Larode opened his apartment door and shot Officer Waris, who was guarding evidence to the murder, a spent shotgun shell found in the building vestibule.

Wounded, Waris returned fire as Larode stepped back into his apartment.

“Dashawna, just put your hands up!” Larode screamed to his sister before several bullets punched through the door, hitting him, she said.

“I heard all the shots go off and he was just down on the ground,” she recalled. “I looked at him and I just saw he wasn’t moving. He was curled up. I called (our family) and I told them to come. Telling them to please tell the police I’m here. I don’t want anything to happen to me next.”

Cops didn’t breach the apartment door until they sent in a drone to confirm Larode was dead. Waris was rushed to Brookdale University Hospital, where he was treated and released.

“He is in good spirits,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said of the wounded officer at a press conference on Monday (Nov. 17). “But make no mistake, this could have ended very differently.”

Neighbors described Wallace as a friendly presence and couldn’t comprehend why Larode had targeted him.

“(Wallace) was always pleasant to everybody. Everybody is in shock,” one neighbor, who gave her name only as Vanessa, told The News. “When you see him coming he was always laughing with his brother, laughing and talking. He was just always the type to tell everybody hi.”

Larode was the polar opposite, Vanessa, 33, said.

“He just kept it himself. Always. He never (said hello),” she said. “I believe Leroy was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Larode and Wallace lived in adjoining apartments on the building’s ground floor.

Dashawna described Wallace as a “great guy.” Her brother rarely spoke to the victim, which led her to suspect that some undiagnosed mental illness played a role in the bloodshed.

“I just think he was out of his right mind,” she said. “I don’t think my brother would naturally take somebody’s life. He’s never shown aggression in the past.”

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