28 August 2023
FARGO The July 14 car crash near 25th Street and Ninth Avenue South starts as an ordinary call for four Fargo police officers.
Officer Andrew Dotas, 28, teases his trainee, 22-year-old Officer Tyler Hawes, about putting on a yellow traffic safety vest. Hawes says he wants to follow policy.
Dotas whistles as he walks toward another squad car carrying Officers Zach Robinson and Jake Wallin as they arrive to assist at the scene.
Wallin, a 23-year-old being trained by the 31-year-old Robinson, casually thanks firefighters for responding before sending them on their way.
Seconds later, that routine call turns into a gunman’s ambush on police that changes Fargo forever.
Dozens of shots fired by 37-year-old Mohamad Barakat, of Fargo, rip through the air and shatter the peace. The barrage of bullets kills Wallin and critically injures Hawes, Dotas and Karlee Koswick, who was involved in the fender-bender.
The Forum, WDAY-TV and some other North Dakota media members asked to review all video obtained from the shooting. North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley agreed to allow that and showed the videos to reporters Friday morning, Aug. 25, in a controlled setting. Wrigley said he would not make the videos widely available until the investigation is complete.
“We wanted to review the available, unedited video for the sake of transparency,” said Forum Editor-in-Chief Matthew Von Pinnon. “Even if we choose to not publish some or any of the videos, we wanted to be able to inform our audience of any valuable information conveyed in them.”
Video from police body cameras is exempt from open records laws when an investigation is active, though agencies have discretion in releasing footage, according to North Dakota law.
“These are matters of public concern and interest,” Wrigley said.
He earlier made public an edited version of Officer Robinson’s body camera footage, with graphic images blurred. As part of Friday’s viewing under Wrigley’s watch, news reporters reviewed the full version of Robinson’s body camera footage, including how he killed Barakat and comforted Officer Dotas, willing him to live.
Other video reviewed includes body camera footage from Dotas, Hawes and Wallin, footage from nearby Big Top Bingo, and a squad car recording showing dozens of officers rushing to the scene to help save the lives of those they could.
A routine crash
Dotas’ and Hawes’ bodycam videos show how they were the first police officers to arrive at the crash scene. A search warrant for nearby business surveillance footage obtained by The Forum shows the crash happened at 2:42 p.m.
Fargo firefighters arrive at the scene at 2:48 p.m., followed a minute later by Dotas, Hawes and an ambulance, according to the search warrant.
Video shows Hawes putting on his yellow traffic vest. He is the only officer to do so.
Koswick, a 25-year-old from the Boston area, rear-ended a vehicle driven by Giacomo Fernandez Giganti, of West Fargo, according to a report from the North Dakota Department of Transportation.
Video shows officers talking to the five occupants of Giganti’s vehicle. The ambulance is allowed to leave because there were no serious injuries reported, Wrigley said. Dotas is seen talking in a calm manner as the officers collect information from Koswick and Giganti.
Watching the scene
As officers investigated the crash, Barakat left his Bluemont Village apartment in the 2800 block of 23rd Avenue South and drove north on 25th Street. He lived about 1.5 miles south of where he would later open fire on officers.
Around 2:53 p.m., Barakat turns his vehicle west onto Ninth Avenue South, according to the search warrant. He pulls into a business office parking lot with an unobstructed view of the crash, according to video from Big Top Bingo.
Authorities later find hundreds of bullets, three rifles, a grenade, gas cans and propane tanks filled with explosives in Barakat’s car. A motive in the shooting hasn’t been released, but Wrigley said investigators believe Barakat planned a mass shooting, possibly at the downtown street fair attended by thousands that afternoon.
What was not found in Barakat’s vehicle was a radio scanner to listen to dispatchers, meaning he couldn’t have known about the crash, Wrigley said. Barakat likely saw an opportunity in the crash to kill officers, which would send other police units to the scene and make his intended mass shooting victims an easy target, Wrigley said.
Video from Big Top shows Barakat driving from the office building parking lot at 2:56 p.m. into the bingo hall lot. He parks in the northeast corner for less than a minute, then heads west on Ninth Avenue South, disappearing out of view for several minutes.
Wrigley said it’s likely Barakat circled the block, as video from Big Top shows him re-entering surveillance footage around 3:01 p.m. just west of the office building near the crash. He then is seen pulling into the parking lot overlooking the crash for the last time.
As he pulls in, Dotas and Hawes try to clear the scene to prevent another crash, according to body camera footage. They ask Giganti to pull into the business office lot since his vehicle is drivable. Big Top video shows Giganti pulling into the lot two spaces south of Barakat’s car.
From peace to chaos
Dotas’ bodycam video shows him walking past a fire truck as he whistles. He then walks up to a squad car that arrives at the scene. Robinson and Wallin, both wearing sunglasses, step out.
They casually walk past the truck.
“Thanks, man,” Wallin says to the firefighters.
Koswick is seen on the west sidewalk, facing away from Barakat’s vehicle.
Dotas, Hawes and Wallin walk on the west berm toward Barakat’s vehicle, seemingly to talk further with Giganti, video shows. Big Top video shows several people from Giganti’s vehicle standing behind that car before the shooting starts.
Barakat spray-painted his windows black, so it’s hard to see him in the vehicle in body camera footage. With Barakat’s blacked-out windows, the approaching officers likely didn’t see what was inside his vehicle, Wrigley said.
The gunman appears to bend down in the driver’s seat, likely to grab a rifle equipped with a binary trigger that allows him to fire one round each when he pulls and releases the trigger.
At the same time, Officer Robinson calls out to Dotas and points north, video shows. Dotas and Hawes turn sideways to look in that direction, while Wallin looks over his shoulder at Robinson to the east, video shows.
That’s when Barakat points his rifle out his window and releases a barrage of bullets, sweeping west to east. Dotas is struck first, followed by Hawes.
One bullet hits Hawes’ body camera, sending it flying through the air. The camera catches glimpses of the scene, including Wallin trying to shoot at Barakat and Koswick running away before she is shot.
Big Top video also shows Giganti and his passengers running and taking shelter behind their car.
Wallin’s video gives a clearer view of how he tried to stop Barakat before being fatally shot. He drops his notepad and pen and runs south to better position himself to shoot Barakat. Wallin fires one round as he pulls out his 9mm handgun, video shows. He aims and steadies his gun with both hands, a nanosecond away from shooting Barakat, video shows.
One bullet from Barakat’s rifle fatally hit Wallin, Wrigley said. The young officer died at the scene.
Robinson calls in the shooting, believing Barakat is firing an AK-47. The officer then fires his 9mm at Barakat, who steps out of his car.
Barakat moves to the passenger side of his car, video shows. That’s where Robinson shoots Barakat in the chest, sending him to the ground and disabling the rifle, Wrigley said.
The gunman fires 44 .223-caliber rounds in roughly 20 seconds before going to the ground, authorities said. Still, he tries to raise his rifle and then a handgun, despite multiple commands from Robinson to surrender.
Robinson fires 31 rounds at Barakat, 21 of which strike him, Wrigley said. Most of the rounds were glancing blows because Barakat was lying on the ground.
A minute and 46 seconds after Barakat opens fire, Robinson is able to move in around the back of Barakat’s vehicle and kill the shooter with five shots.
‘Send everybody’
Armed with a 9mm, Robinson had to try to stop a shooter who could fire multiple rounds in seconds. Video shows Robinson still has the presence of mind to call in what was happening and to ask for backup.
“Send everybody,” Robinson radios at one point.
As the shooting unfolds, an injured Hawes crawls toward Dotas.
Meanwhile, the firefighters who were about to leave the scene start to back up their fire truck in an attempt to block traffic, Wrigley said. One of the truck’s tires is shot out as the truck moves in reverse, video shows.
After the shooting stops, the firefighters jump out to help Hawes and Dotas. Hawes tells them to treat Dotas first, as he was more severely injured, Wrigley said.
Robinson runs to Dotas’ side and squeezes his fellow officer’s hand, trying to comfort the seriously injured officer and willing him to live.
It’s unclear how many officers, firefighters and medical staff responded to the scene, but Wrigley said dispatchers did, in fact, send everyone.
Seconds after the ambush ends, Robinson’s dash camera footage shows more than a dozen police vehicles descending upon the scene from every direction. One responding squad car’s door opens as it is still moving. Officers run past Robinson’s vehicle to help the downed officers. Multiple law enforcement agencies respond. Even an unmarked vehicle from someone who was off duty arrives, Wrigley said.
That scene of officers, firefighters and medical staff arriving lasts for several minutes. Wrigley said police, firefighters’ and emergency responders’ quick actions saved Dotas, Hawes and Koswick.
Though all were critically injured, the three have since been released from the hospital.
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