Albany, New York, Police revealed Thursday that the man who is seen in body camera footage shooting an officer Wednesday turned his gun on himself, and was not killed by the officer's return fire.
The officer wounded early Wednesday morning was Jonathan Damphier, police confirmed Thursday. Damphier has been with the department since 2021, and is recovering from a successful surgery, police told the Times Union.
The information about the suspect, Amiel Layeni, 28, was in contrast to inferences that were made about the case Wednesday. Police Chief Eric Hawkins said in his first news conference early Wednesday morning that "officer returned fire and the suspect was struck at some point during that confrontation. The officer is conscious, he’s alert. He’s sustained a wound to his upper leg area. The suspect is deceased."
Hawkins defended his initial characterizations, saying he was careful in his wording to not say exactly what happened while police waited for autopsy results. "I was intentional about what I said about it," Hawkins said Thursday.
Hawkins said investigators recovered two illegal 9mm handguns from the scene, as well as a ghost gun from Layeni's home. Layeni was on probation for a 2022 conviction for reckless driving.
Damphier was shot in the thigh just after midnight Wednesday when he approached Layeni's parked car — which Damphier saw about a minute earlier speeding— in what Hawkins described as an ambush. Layeni walked out from around the back of the car before firing two rounds at Damphier, according to the body camera footage released Wednesday.
