New details are out in the shooting death of an unarmed Black man by a Shreveport, Louisiana, police officer. Alexander Tyler, the officer accused of shooting Alonzo Bagley, 43, faces negligent homicide charges after bodycam video was released Thursday.
The bodycam and 911 audio reveals more details outlining what happened leading up to the fatal shooting. On Feb. 3, Bagley’s wife, Tangela Jones, called 911 claiming Bagley was threatening her and their 15-year-old daughter.
“So he’s over there drinking, is he on any drugs or anything like that?” the dispatcher asked Jones.
“I don’t know what he’s on, he come from Cedar Grove,” Jones replied.
“He come from Cedar Grover raged, real raged and stuff acting a fool,” Jones continued.
After the 911 call, bodycam video shows two Shreveport police officers arriving to the apartment at 11:05 p.m. As the officers knock on the front door, Bagley and Jones are heard arguing behind the closed door.
Bagley first answers the door, and officers asked him to step outside the apartment. Bagley declined to step outside the apartment claiming he’s got dogs. Bagley is seen wearing a blue t-shirt with a bottle in his hand.
Jones is heard in the background telling the officers, “Come on in, sir, he’s disturbing the peace. We’ve got neighbors over there.” She goes on to tell the officer Bagley is intoxicated.
As the officers step inside the apartment, Bagley is seen on bodycam walking away to a back room. He continues claiming he’s going to put the dog up. Jones directs the officers toward the back of the apartment, and she also tells the police Bagley has marijuana in the back.
Bagley is seen walking into a back room and then closing the door.
As the unidentified officer opens the closed door, he draws his service weapon as Bagley is seen opening another back door leading to the outside of their two-story apartment. Bagley is then seen leaping over the railing to the ground and taking off running.
Officer Alexander Tyler, the other officer on scene, runs toward the front of the couple’s apartment and down the corridor stairway to the outside. Tyler is seen on bodycam running toward Bagley and as they nearly collide, Tyler fires a single gunshot, striking Bagley in the chest.
After being shot, Bagley collapses against an adjacent brick wall and slumps to the ground. Bagley can be heard screaming, “Oh God! He’s shot me!”
Moments after firing the gunshot, Tyler is heard asking for EMS to arrive to the scene. It is 11:07 p.m.
As a dying Alonzo Bagley screams in agony, Tyler tries to keep him conscious.
“No, no, no, no!” Bagley said as he lay on the pavement in a pool of blood.
An increasingly frantic Tyler tells Bagley, “No, you’re good.”
The other responding officer begins applying pressure to Bagley’s gunshot wound as he continues to scream from being struck by the bullet.
“Come on, man,” Bagley said repeatedly.
“Come on, dude, stay with me! Stay with me, man, stay with me. Keep breathing, keep breathing!” Tyler says amid tears as ambulance sirens grow louder in the background.
As paramedics get closer to Bagley’s bloodied body, Tyler continues trying to keep him conscious.
“Look at me, look at me. Wake up! Hey, respond!” Tyler said.
Investigators with the Louisiana State Police Bureau of Investigations reviewed the body camera and evidence collected from the scene. Their investigation concluded Tyler should be charged with negligent homicide and issued an arrest warrant on Feb. 16.
Tyler was booked into the Caddo Correctional Center in Shreveport, Louisiana on Feb. 16.
Tyler’s arrest documents indicated there were no known reports Bagley was in possession of a dangerous weapon. Investigators also found, “no arguable facts were provided to the affiant that would justify the need for deadly force to apprehend Bagley to protect himself or others in self-defense, or to prevent Bagley’s escape,” KSLA reported.
“This is one of the first times in the history of the state of Louisiana where the Louisiana State Police has made an arrest of a white officer killing a Black or brown person,” Bagley’s family attorney Ron Haley said.
“Officer Tyler’s actions were so egregious they didn’t have to go to a grand jury,” Haley added.
A judge set Tyler’s bond at $25,000. He bonded out around 3:30 p.m., KSLA reported. His arraignment is set for April 3.
Alonzo Bagley’s brother, Xavier Sudds, spoke at a news conference Thursday still coping with the loss.
“There was no need for my brother to lose his life over a 911 call with no threat there,” Sudds said.
“It honestly got me seeing him take his last breath. It really broke my heart; my heart’s still broken…I’m gonna keep saying that this is painful. I’m hurting. My family is hurting. We’re hurting as a people, and a call to justice is what is needed,” Sudds told Daily Beast.
Tyler’s attorney, J. Dhu Thompson told KSLA after the bond hearing, “These are split-second decisions that officers have to make. You know, if charges are brought, we’ll be prepared to defend them.”
“All good officers don’t go out on the street, you know, wanting to shoot somebody in this situation…He was put in an unfortunate situation. He’s not cavalier about this,” Thomason added.
Under Louisiana law, whoever commits the crime of negligent homicide shall be imprisoned with or without hard labor for not more than five years, fined not more than five thousand dollars, or both.
Bagley’s family also has a pending $10 million excessive force federal lawsuit filed against Tyler.
