HollyMatkinEvansville, IN – An active shooter ambushed multiple law enforcement officers in a residential neighborhood on Friday night, and murdered one of his neighbors in the harrowing attack caught on video (video below.)
The Evansville Police Department released 911 calls, bodycam footage and home surveillance video on Tuesday, ABC News reported.
“I’m pretty sure our neighbor shot a gun, and he just took off running,” a female caller told 911 at approximately 9 p.m.
Officers arrived in the area and began searching for the gunman, who was later identified as 51-year-old Barry Freeman.
“What’s he got in his hand?” an officer asked his partner, as they came upon the man in a darkened area.
“Let’s see your hands, brother,” another officer told the Freeman.
The situation quickly escalated, as the officers repeatedly ordered the man to show his hands, bodycam footage showed.
Surveillance footage from a nearby house captured the moment that the officers turned away from the gunman, and ran for cover.
A second later, Freeman appeared at the bottom of the frame with a rifle raised to his right shoulder. He waited by a vehicle in ambush before he made his way to the corner of a nearby building, and watched the area the officers had run towards.
“Mr. Freeman was concealed in darkness and as you can see he moved on at a regular basis,” Evansville Police Sgt. Jason Cullum said, according to WFIE. “We were told by his son while this event was unfolding that he had prior military experience and based on some of his movements it appeared he was using some training that he may have received.”
Freeman aimed his weapon at passing civilian motorists, but did not open fire on them, surveillance video showed.
He then fired “multiple times at responding officers,” and struck a patrol vehicle, the department said in a video caption.
Flashes shot out of the weapon’s barrel as Freeman let off round after round, hitting another patrol vehicle “numerous times,” the department said.
The gunman moved towards a nearby porch, and fired at two additional police vehicles, striking both. He later swapped his AR-15 for a shotgun, and continued his attack, police said.
Jeffrey Kempf, 56, was fatally shot by Freeman while he rushed to help other neighbors in the area, WXIN reported.
“We think Freeman believed he was shooting at a police officer, not his neighbor,” the department said in the video.
The gunman grabbed his AR-15 for a second time, and proceeded through an opening in a fence line, where he pointed his weapon at an officer, police said.
Evansville Police SWAT Officer Kyle Thiry then used his rifle to fire two rounds, both of which struck Freeman in the chest.
Despite his injuries, Freeman continued to fire his weapon “several more times” before officers were able to take him into custody.
He was rushed to a local hospital, where he died on Sunday night, ABC News reported.
“Officer Thiry is credited with ending Mr. Freeman’s rampage that night,” Sgt. Cullum told ABC News on Tuesday. “That is a testament to the skill and the calmness that Officer Thiry displayed that night in bringing peace back to that neighborhood.”
Based on the gunman’s movements, investigators said they believed he was hunting for law enforcement targets during the ambush attack.
No officers were injured, but four homes, four patrol vehicles and two businesses were struck by gunfire.
One of the police cruisers was riddled by 23 bullets, WXIN reported.
You can watch footage of the attack in the video below. The video starts with 911 audio and the video escalates as the gunfight goes on: