Bodycam footage released in deadly January shootout involving Raleigh police officers

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- The Raleigh Police Department released body-cam footage of the deadly January shootout that happened in the Renaissance Park neighborhood in south Raleigh.

On Jan. 21, officers shot and killed Antonio Joseph Rodrigues, who had shot and critically injured Raleigh First Class Officer Max Gillick.

Gillick was released from the hospital in March.

Just days after the shooting, former Raleigh chief Estella Patterson praised Gillick, who was shot during a gunfire exchange with Rodrigues in a Renaissance Park neighborhood.

"He's a hero. Very heroic, very courageous," she said on Jan. 24.

In April, Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman announced that her office concluded that the use of force during the incident was justified and that no charges would be pursued against the officers.

Former Apex Police Chief Jason Armstrong said the moments of teamwork helped the officers control the situation.

"So one part in the video where one of the officers started to go outside, but another officer saw a door that led out from the garage, and that's where the suspect was. So he started warning his other teammate, watch that door, watch that door. And those are the things that law enforcement trains on," Armstrong said.

Thaddeus Johnson with the Council on Criminal Justice says the fact they even still found a way to give the suspect verbal commands even as he was shooting at them, shows for them it was a last resort, and that handling things by the book, made a tense situation end peacefully for the community.

"Come to find out, the gentleman also had an ammunition belt so it's possible that the officers, had they gone in by themselves without backup and that and the specialized unit, they could have possibly been outgunned and we could have been having a totally different conversation today," Johnson said.

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Shooting Timeline

The DA's report revealed a tense, dramatic scene that day.

Police arrived on the scene about 5:40 p.m. on Jan. 21 in the 600 block of Democracy Court in response to a burglary call that was upgraded to a shooting call. They responded after the homeowner called 911 and said she and her boyfriend were packing moving boxes when her ex-husband, later identified as Rodrigues, showed up and broke into the home.

According to the district attorney's findings, Rodrigues used a stun gun on the boyfriend, later identified as 73-year-old John Rowe, and then left and came back with a .44 caliber rifle, which he used to shoot into the house, striking Rowe. The homeowner was able to get out and run to a neighbor's house.

When officers entered the home, they found Rowe on the floor with a gunshot wound. They soon found Rodrigues hiding behind a car in the garage. According to the investigation, Rodrigues ignored commands to drop his weapon and began firing at officers. RPD Officer Henry returned fire but retreated into the house because he thought he had been hit.

Meanwhile, Gillick stayed with Rowe and worked to move him into a screened-in porch out of the line of fire. As RPD's Selective Enforcement Unit arrived, Rodrigues continued to sporadically shoot at officers.

The SEU team used a BearCat armored vehicle to smash into the garage and used a flashbang device. That flushed Rodrigues from the garage. Police bodycam video showed him going back into the house and firing his rifle at Gillick, critically wounding the officer, who was still tending to the injured Rowe. At that point, multiple officers fired at Rodrigues, killing him.

Investigators found a Rossi Model R92 .44 caliber lever-action rifle under Rodrigues' body. They also found a Polymer 80 "ghost gun" handgun and an Orion flare gun in the garage where Rodrigues had fired numerous rounds.