Video: New Orleans Police Officer's Single Shot Ends Hostage Standoff

An armed suspect, who had tried to carjack a vehicle, is accused of barricading himself inside a gas station and aiming a gun at a woman before a New Orleans police officer shot him in the shoulder.

Nov. 17, 2025

2 min read

What to know

• Body-camera and surveillance footage released by New Orleans police shows Officer Aaron Muse shooting a gunman on Oct. 31 as the suspect allegedly held a gas-station employee at gunpoint.

• After trying to carjack a vehicle, the suspect barricaded himself inside a gas station and allegedly aimed his guat an employee; Muse fired once, striking him in the shoulder and leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

• The shooting remains under investigation by the Public Integrity Bureau, with oversight from the Independent Police Monitor and federal consent-decree monitors; Muse has been returned to full duty.

By Missy Wilkinson

Source The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate

New Orleans police on Thursday released footage of a special ops officer shooting a man as he allegedly held a woman hostage at gunpoint in a barricaded gas station on Halloween.

Emmanuel Harris, 54, remains hospitalized and is paralyzed from the waist down after a string of violent, erratic incidents captured on body-worn cameras and the store's surveillance video.

Though police say Harris never fired his weapon, they believe he did brandish it at a motorist while pulling on their vehicle's handle in an attempted carjacking. Shortly thereafter, at around 8:30 p.m., he wielded it as he entered the gas station and convenience store at the intersection of North Galvez and Canal Street.

Video shows Harris hunkering behind the store's counter, throwing items and occasionally pointing his gun in a side grip as two other employees, one of them also armed, extricate themselves from that area. He appears to barricade himself behind a shelving unit and a stool, crouching and pointing his gun from behind the makeshift bunker before jumping over the counter and allegedly taking aim at a female employee hiding near the freezers.

That's when senior police officer Aaron Muse, a six-year veteran assigned to the special ops division, fired a single shot at Harris, striking him in the shoulder.

Muse was reassigned after the shooting and has since been returned to full duty.

The use of force remains under investigation by the Public Integrity Bureau's Force Investigation Team. The Independent Police Monitor and federal consent decree monitors have also been notified, the NOPD said.

The NOPD furnished the footage to the media in accordance with its policy on critical use-of-force incidents, an area revamped under the consent decree. That practice will remain in place when NOPD exits federal oversight, said deputy superintendent Keith Sanchez.

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