Police Arrested in Shreveport Louisiana for Shooting Unarmed Black Man

A white police officer from Shreveport, Louisiana has been arrested for shooting and killing an unarmed black man who was trying to run away during a domestic call, authorities said. After reviewing footage from officers’ body cameras, state troopers charged Alexander Tyler, 23, with negligent homicide in the Feb. 3 death of 43-year-old Alonzo Bagley.

Tyler’s arrest came the same day Louisiana State Police released graphic body camera video of the shooting along with audio from the 911 recording reporting the domestic disturbance.

Two officers responded to the disturbance around 10:50 p.m. Feb. 3 at the Villa Norte Apartments in Shreveport. In the 911 call, a person who identified herself as Bagley’s wife said her husband was “loaded on something” and threatening her and her daughter after coming home “raged and acting the fool.”

Tyler and another unidentified officer arrived at the apartment, where Bagley opened the door holding a glass bottle with brown liquid.

Bagley said he had to put away his dog, walked to the back of the apartment onto a balcony, jumped to the ground outside and fled. The officers gave chase.

Col. Lamar Davis, the superintendent of Louisiana State Police, previously said that as Tyler rounded the corner of the building, he spotted Bagley and fired a single shot, which struck the man in the chest.

After the shooting, police officer Tyler made “multiple statements claiming that the suspect came toward him and he could not see his hands,” according to court documents by Louisiana state police. Investigators did not find any weapons in Bagley’s possession.

Following his arrest, Tyler was released on $25,000 bond pending his arraignment set for April 3.

The repeated shooting of unarmed black men by police officers in the United States has sparked the Black Lives Matter movement. George Floyd, Daunte Wright, Tyre Nicholls, Trevon Martin, Breonna Taylor (woman), and Tamir Rice are just a few of the black people who have been slain by police officers in recent years.

Frustrated at the lack of progress in the relations between young, black Americans and law enforcement, many have called for defunding the police.