Horrific video showing the moment an Afghan man pulled a gun on three Virginia cops before an officer shot him dead has been released by police.
Jamal Wali, 36, launched into an anti-American rant against the officers before opening fire when they stopped him on the outskirts of Washington DC on April 23.
A chilling eight-minute video, shared by the Fairfax County Police Department on Saturday, illustrates how a simple traffic stop escalated into a fatal gunfight.
In his final moments that sunny afternoon in Fair Oaks, Wali is heard cursing at the officers and exclaiming, ‘I should have served with the f***ing Taliban.’
He claimed that he has four children and served in Afghanistan, before calling all Americans ‘liars’ while lamenting his suffering in the US where he ‘can’t get a job’.
The video begins with bodycam footage from inside one officer’s cruiser as it tailed a silver 1999 Toyota Corolla which has an expired safety inspection sticker.
Wali’s vehicle comes to a sudden stop, prompting the officer to exclaim ‘Jesus Christ!’
The officer leaves his cruiser and approaches the driver’s side of the Toyota before greeting Wali and saying: ‘That was a heck of a stop, sir.’
Wali was immediately hostile. ‘I have a gun and I’m armed. So why did you pull me over?’ he asked.
The officer explained that his inspection sticker had expired, but Wali immediately interjects: ‘Yeah, they know! Call Joe Biden or call George Bush!’
‘I don’t have a driving license,’ he added. ‘Go back, sit in the f***ing car and leave.’
The officer calmly declined, but Wali escalated his rhetoric, shouting: ‘You are killing f***ing people. I have kids and a lot of f***ing bull**** things.’
‘I can’t even go back to my f***ing country because of you f***ing people,’ he added. ‘When I was serving with you liars, with you people, with Americans.’
The officer told Wali that he too served in the military, but the incensed motorist continued to rant.
‘You f***ing people brought me to this goddamn f***ing country and I’m dying every f***ing single day,’ he shouted.
‘I have four children,’ Wali said. ‘I can’t get a job, I can’t get a f***ing disability.’
At this point, the officer radioed in for backup, telling his colleagues that ‘the subject keeps reaching for his weapon’ – as shown in footage from inside Wali’s vehicle.
‘You lied for 25 years,’ Wali shouted. ‘I lost everything, I have nothing… the system is f***ing broke.’
The cop sympathized with Wali, telling him: ‘Sounds like you’re going through a really rough time,’ but he hit back, saying he ‘should have served with f***ing Taliban’.
The officer warned Wali that his colleagues were joining the scene, and two cops approached his car, one at the driver’s window and the other at the passenger side.
One of the officers reaches into Wali’s car for his gun, asking him: ‘Do you wanna give me that?’
But Wali responded by opening fire. Several gunshots can be heard ringing out as one officer fired back and another can be heard shouting ‘f***!’
Wider angles of the scene shows how the officers recoiled in different directions as two were shot, and one rolled across the ground.
Fairfax County Police accused Wali of attempting to murder their officers.
‘Wali reached for a firearm and shot two officers,’ the department said in a statement. ‘A third officer discharged his weapon, striking Wali four times.’
Several more officers were sent to the scene, and they rushed to rescue the two wounded officers and Wali.
The cops were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, while Wali was pronounced dead.
Fairfax Police identified the officer who fatally shot Wali as Officer Ian Lachapelle, a two-year veteran of the department who covers the Fair Oaks district.
Lachapelle has been placed on restricted-duty status while the investigation continues.
