BATON ROUGE —- An investigation into an officer-involved shooting with the Baton Rouge Police Department will likely culminate without any discipline for the officers due to the shooting being justified. BRPD has now released the involved officers’ body-worn camera footage showing what happened.
It was around 3 a.m. on Sunday, April 20 when BRPD officers responded to the Super 6 Inn & Suites on Gwenadele Ave., just off Airline Highway, to a call for a disturbance. Upon the officer’s arrival, the body camera shows him coming up to a woman, who says the suspect attempted to rob her boyfriend and even told the officer that he had a gun.
The officer continued walking toward a vehicle with an alarm going off. For several minutes, the officer requested the man to come out of the car with his arms up. The officer also requested backup if additional officers were around the scene.
The video shows two officers pointing their duty-issued weapons at the man, repeatedly demanding the man to exit his vehicle with his hands up. The suspect eventually did exit but with a rifle and fired a shot. That’s when officers returned deadly fire. The suspect has been identified as a 34-year-old man, who was transported to a local hospital. He died from his injuries. He’s been identified as Kevin Vallian.
“Officers were able to secure the AR rifle and a handgun from the suspect’s person immediately before beginning life-saving measures, including CPR while awaiting EMS,” a release from BRPD’s Chief TJ Morse said.
Per standard procedure, both involved officers were placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. Neither officer was injured in the shooting.
Chief Morse said, “I believe their quick thinking and intensive training is what brought them home safely to their families that night. An Internal Affairs investigation has been opened into this matter, however, based on my preliminary review of all related videos, I do not anticipate any discipline for either officer involved.
The involved officers have been identified as David Jennings, who has been with BRPD for the past six years, and Gene Meazell, a 2.5 year veteran.
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