Hair-raising bodycam footage of a fearless Fargo police officer stopping a would-be mass murderer in the middle of a busy street was released by North Dakota’s Attorney General Drew Wrigley on Thursday, leading many to wonder why they had never heard about the July 14th event that left one officer dead and three people wounded, including two more officers and a fleeing bystander.
Police were responding to a routine car accident when Syrian gunman Mohamad Barakat, 37, opened fire on them in a deadly ambush.
Barakat was allegedly on his way to a Fargo street fair, evidence suggests, with enough explosives in his car to create a national tragedy, the Daily Mail reports.
Officer Zach Robinson’s bodycam footage shows the moment shots from Barakat’s weapon rang out.
**WARNING: GRAPHIC!**
Fargo Police Shooting bodycam footage released pic.twitter.com/Ol3C3Yj35e
— Hotep Davei (@Davei_Boi) August 17, 2023
Robinson can be heard yelling, “Shots fired!”
“We’ve got three officers down – send everybody,” he shouted.
The bodies of 23-year-old rookie cop Jake Wallin and Officers Andrew Dotas and Tyler Hawes can be seen lying motionless on the ground.
Tragically, Wallin lost his life in the attack.
Barakat can be seen taking cover next to a parked car as Officer Robinson charged toward him, repeatedly ordering him to put down his weapon and put his hands in the air.
Ultimately, Robinson, who was taking fire, shot at Barakat 31 times, killing him.
According to Wrigley, investigators later discovered “guns, a homemade grenade, more than 1,800 rounds of ammunition, three containers full of gasoline and two propane tanks — one completely filled and the other half-filled with homemade explosive materials,” The Associated Press reports.
The past five years of Barakat’s internet queries revealed such searches as “kill fast,” “explosive ammo,” “incendiary rounds,” and “mass shooting events,” authorities said.
Most disturbing among the queries was one for “area events where there are crowds.” The search led to a news article with the headline, “Thousands enjoy first day of Downtown Fargo Street Fair,” just one day before the shooting.
(Video: YouTube)
As is all-too-often the case, Barakat’s behavior had caught the attention of authorities in the past.
In September 2022, in response to a kitchen fire in Barakat’s home, firefighters noticed that Barakat, who moved to the US in 2012 as an asylum seeker and became a naturalized US citizen in 2019, according to the Daily Mail, had guns, ammunition, and propane tanks in his apartment.
In a report provided to The Associated Press on Wednesday by the City of Fargo Fire Department, Battalion Chief Jason Ness noted what appeared to be “a significant amount of gun ammunition,” “multiple ‘assault style’ rifles,” a 20-pound propane cylinder in a bedroom, a second smaller propane cylinder in the kitchen, and “a funnel, blender, and other items that looked to be for measuring purposes,” according to the outlet.
The police were notified, but all the guns were determined to be legally owned.
And last week, the FBI and Fargo Police Department revealed that the FBI had “received an anonymous tip about Barakat in July 2021 in which concerns were expressed about his mental state, that he had access to a ‘significant number of firearms’ and that he had used threatening language,” The AP reports.
When the Fargo police visited Barakat, he “denied any ill-intentions.”
“Police say they have not found any evidence that he was a religious fanatic, and believe instead that he was motivated purely by hate and fascinated by mass shootings,” according to the Daily Mail.
According to Wrigley, there was a ‘suggestion’ the gunman may have been on an FBI Guardian list.
“The lists allow federal and state law enforcement to report terror suspects to the FBI and monitor whether or not an individual is under investigation,” the Daily Mail explained, adding, “The FBI has not yet confirmed that he was on such a list.”
But on X, people are questioning why they didn’t hear about the ambush and subsequent shooting of Barakat when it took place.
“Unreal,” said Frontlines reporter Kalen D’Almeida. “Evidently, a month ago there was a Syrian terrorist in Fargo, North Dakota shooting cops.”
“Wild that there isn’t anyone involved in MSM coming forward about being roadblocked from reporting on this story,” he wrote. “Why is that?”
Wild that there isn’t anyone involved in MSM coming forward about being roadblocked from reporting on this story. Why is that?
— Kalen D’Almeida (@fromkalen) August 18, 2023
“Not white, no coverage,” replied another user. “Simple.”
Not white, no coverage. Simple.
— Gary (@TanzarianArmen) August 18, 2023
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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