This is what it means to serve and protect in a nation awash in guns.
Harrowing, yet humbling, body camera footage of two Louisville officers who rushed into gunfire in Kentucky on Monday shows the demands placed upon police who respond to America’s proliferating mass shootings and the terrible price they may pay.
Video of what is effectively a street battle more akin to a foreign war zone than a US city basking in the morning sunshine offers a visceral antidote to the collective national shoulder shrug that often follows gun massacres.
This is a raw, frightening scene, laced with courage and heroism. It offers a reality check about what unfolds in moments of terror and leaves the regular post-massacre political rituals of “thoughts and prayers” and doomed calls for gun reform looking empty by comparison.
Some might question the need for Americans to see this disturbing footage. But it offers context to the bitter and often futile public debate about to how to stop mass shootings and helps the public understand the horror they involve.
The breathtaking video shows rookie Officer Nickolas Wilt driving up to the scene with his training officer, Cory “CJ” Galloway. After they take fire coming from inside the bank, Wilt slams the car into reverse before getting out with his handgun. Galloway races to the trunk to retrieve his service rifle. Then, without hesitating, they both advance up a set of steps – despite having no idea where the shooter, who turned out to be lying in wait, actually was. Suddenly, Galloway is down on the ground, with a minor gunshot wound after a deafening burst of fire. Wilt, who is blurred in the footage, lies shot in the head – another victim of the weapons of war that are often the preferred choice of mass killers. He is a good guy with a gun who was outgunned by a bad guy with a more powerful weapon.
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