Law enforcement officers fired 18 shots on night of David McAtee death

david-mcatee

State officials said Tuesday that LMPD and National Guard officers fired 18 shots during the incident that left a popular restaurant owner dead Monday morning.

Louisville Metro Police officials Tuesday released video footage that they say shows popular barbecue chef David McAtee firing a gun before officers shot and killed him early Monday morning.

But interim Louisville Metro Police Chief Robert Schroeder acknowledged the video footage of several security cameras “does not answer every question” about the sequence of events that cost McAtee his life.

And one of McAtee’s family members said officials appeared to be offering excuses for his slaying, insisting that McAtee “did not try to shoot at the police.”

 The weapons involved with LMPD and National Guard have been inventoried and are being tested as well.

Two of the four videos police released Monday and Tuesday were two street cameras operated by LMPD’s Real Time Crime Center: one from inside McAtee’s barbecue business across 26th Street; and an outside view from an adjoining business.

Officials also released a recording of the police radio transmission during the incident.

The two officers involved in the incident who police say shot their weapons, Katie Crews and Austin Allen, were either not wearing body cameras or did not have them activated. Officials have not said whether any other officers were wearing cameras.

While the McAtee family has insisted their gathering late Sunday night and early Monday morning wasn’t related to the weekend protests honoring another police shooting victim, Breonna Taylor, Beshear said Tuesday that he was dialing back the National Guard’s presence in Louisville. He called them in Saturday, following consecutive nights of protests across the city that ended up turning violent.

Monday marked the fifth straight night of protests, but they were milder than the previous four nights by comparison.