Holly MatkinNashville, TN – The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) has released bodycam footage from a deadly officer-involved shooting incident last week that left a young detective with multiple gunshot wounds (video below).
The series of events leading up to the shootout began on the afternoon of June 1, when employees at The Parking Spot, an off-site parking area for Nashville International Airport travelers, called police to report they spotted a suspect breaking into vehicles, The Tennessean reported.
Plainclothes officers soon located the suspect, who then took off running towards a residential area, according to WTVF.
The suspect was later identified as 37-year-old Delama Casimir, The Tennessean reported.
Bodycam footage released later that night showed 33-year-old MNPD Detective Donovan Coble and his partner responding to the area of Donelson Pike to intercept the fleeing suspect, according to WTVF.
“That’s him,” Det. Coble said as he threw his patrol car into park and jumped out.
The officers immediately ordered Casimir to show his hands, at which point the suspect took off running through rows of parked vehicles.
The suspect scaled a wooden fence with the officers following close behind, the video showed.
“I’m gonna Tase you if you don’t stop right now,” Det. Coble warned him as they ran through a yard towards a wooded area. “I’ve already got you.”
Just then, the detective realized the suspect had a gun.
He ordered him to drop his weapon as multiple gunshots rang out.
The video showed the suspect and Det. Coble falling to the ground.
Police said the detective and the suspect were both hit in the exchange of gunfire, The Tennessean reported.
The wounded detective bounced back to his feet nearly immediately and ran back towards cover.
“I’m hit, I’m hit,” he told his partner.
Office Coble was loaded up into an unmarked police vehicle and notified dispatch over the radio that he had been shot in the ribs.
A SWAT team descended on the neighborhood as the wounded hero was being rushed to the hospital.
Footage from MNPD SWAT Officer Timothy Brewer’s bodycam showed the team pushing into the overgrown brush to search for the suspect.
He spotted Casimir nearly immediately.
“Let me see your hands!” Officer Brewer yelled twice, just before he opened fire on the armed suspect.
Additional officers moved in and got Casimir away from his gun, then placed him in handcuffs, the video showed.
The SWAT officers rendered emergency aid to the suspect before he was rushed to the hospital, but Casimir died later that night, The Tennessean reported.
Investigators said they recovered the suspect’s handgun at the scene.
The weapon had allegedly been stolen from the center console of a vehicle that was parked at the airport, the MNPD said in a press release on Monday.
The owner of the vehicle reported the gun as stolen after getting back to Nashville one day after the shooting.
Det. Coble was admitted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in critical condition.
MNPD Chief John Drake said the young detective suffered a collapsed lung as well as injuries to his diaphragm and lung, The Tennessean reported.
He was discharged shortly after 6 p.m. on Monday to continue his recovery at home.
The four-year department veteran “was greeted by a group of applauding officers” as he left the hospital, according to the MNPD.
Det. Coble is a married father of twin one-year-olds, The Tennessean reported.
He was named Officer of the Year by the Donelson-Hermitage Exchange Club just two days before the shooting.
Watch the incident unfold in the video below. Warning – Graphic Content and Obscene Language:
