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“Alright, Mr. Wilson, let’s go over this one more time,” Detective Mark Jackson said as he handed me a cup of coffee and sat down across from me in the interrogation room. “Walk me through what happened.”
I accepted the cup of coffee and slowly took a sip as I gathered my thoughts. “I was sitting at the red light, and a man drawing a gun from his waistband caught my eye. He appeared to be heading toward two officers standing near the parking garage, so I took action.”
“Why did you think he was heading toward the officers?” Detective Jackson asked while scribbling notes on his legal pad.
“Because he had a gun and was walking in that direction. Haven’t law enforcement officers been ambushed lately?”
“You’re in law enforcement, right?” Detective Jackson said as he looked in his notes. “School Resource Officer, K-9 with the Gillespie County Sheriff’s Office?”
“Yes, and where is my dog?” I asked. In the confusion and chaos, while being pulled from the truck, I had done my best to let them know that I was a K-9 deputy, and Kruger wasn’t just my pet as she barked furiously at them. The last thing I wanted was for something to happen to her.
“She is safe. Animal control has her.”
“Animal control! Are you fucking serious?” I yelled.
“Calm down, Troy,” Detective Jackson said.
“Calm down? I saved your officers’ lives, and you sent my dog to animal control?”
“They know she’s a police K-9, Troy. And your agency has been contacted. She’s going to be well taken care of until we clear this matter up.”
Agency has been contacted. It was something I hadn’t yet considered. No matter the outcome, I knew I would soon be getting a call from my sergeant demanding that I return home with Kruger. Or, worse yet, they would send someone to go get her out of dog jail and suspend me until this blew over.
“Okay,” I said as I tried to calm myself down. “What else do you need from me to clear this up?”
“What were you doing in the area?” the detective asked.
“What do you mean?”
“You said you were in town for a funeral on the Northshore. So, what were you doing by the Superdome in the late evening?”
“What difference does it make?”
“I’m just trying to establish why you were there. You obviously weren’t going to the concert.”
“I hadn’t been to New Orleans in many years and was out for a drive,” I replied. It wasn’t a lie, but I also wasn’t going to give up my lead on Revis. I didn’t want to open that can of worms of following a person of interest in an active investigation and how I had come to learn about him.
“When you just happened to see Carl Thomas pull a gun and attempt to ambush those officers?” he asked, using the suspect’s name for the first time since we had been chatting.
“If that’s his name, then yes,” I said. “Did you find the weapon?”
“Yes, we did,” Detective Jackson replied.
“And did it have his fingerprints on it?”
“The Crime Lab is working on that right now.”
“So, I’ve been cooperating, you have a weapon, and I was well within the law in using deadly force to prevent a forcible felony upon another. When will you release me?”
“That’s for the DA to decide, Mr. Wilson,” Detective Jackson said.
“Oh, come on! I saved those officers’ lives!”
“You have a history of being at the right place at the right time, don’t you, Troy?” Detective Jackson asked as he thumbed through his notes.
“What’s that supposed to mean?
“When we contacted your agency, they were also kind enough to provide your service record. This isn’t your first lethal force encounter.”
“So?”
“So, I’m just saying it’s quite the coincidence that these things keep happening to you.”
“I think we’re done here,” I said. “Am I free to leave?”
“Just one more question. If you don’t mind.”
“What?” I snapped.
“LeShawn Revis, does that name ring any bells?”
I did my best to hide any tells as I pretended to mull the name over. “Should it?”
“Carl Thomas was last seen in LeShawn’s car before the incident this evening,” Detective Jackson replied.
“Have you tried talking to him?”
“We sure did, but that may prove difficult to do,” Detective Jackson replied, grimacing.
“Why is that?”
“His car and body were found in the canal near Pumping Station Six in Metairie an hour ago. JPSO is working on recovering his body right now,” Detective Jackson said.
“Jesus,” I said softly. My mind raced as I tried to figure out the timeline. By my estimate, it had been almost five hours since I had been taken into custody. That was an eternity when it came to homicide investigations. Anything could have happened to Revis after dropping off Carl Thomas.
“So, you know him?” Detective Jackson pressed.
“If he dropped Thomas off, and you’re just now finding his body with me in custody this entire time, it’s highly unlikely that I had anything to do with it, don’t you think?”
Detective Jackson’s left eyebrow suddenly raised. “I didn’t say Revis dropped him off.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said dismissively. “Thomas was about to kill two more of your officers. I stopped him. End of story.”
Detective Jackson placed his pen on the legal pad and smiled. “You’re right. You stopped a potential ambush. You almost killed two pedestrians in the process, but you did stop an ambush. Thank you. Thank you for your service.”
I stood. I had had enough of his “bad cop” routine. “At this point, I would like to either be released or to speak with legal counsel. This interview is over.”
“Of course,” Detective Jackson said. “You are free to leave. Just make sure we have a way to contact you if we have any further questions.”
He reached out to shake my hand. I stared at his hand for a second and then looked him in the eye as we shook.
“Look, I know you’re just doing your job, but I’m not a bad guy. I did what I thought was right, given the information I had available to me at the time. I couldn’t watch another innocent officer die.”
“I know, Deputy Wilson,” Detective Jackson said. “And that’s what I’ve been trying to find out – what information you had available to you at the time. I think it’s more than you’re letting on. I’ll have one of my officers escort you to get your truck from impound and your dog from animal control. I’ll be in touch.”