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Dashawn "Big Top" Batiste

Age : 22

Gender : Male

Race : Black

Date : 08/08/2021

Location : The District, 4607 Johnston Street

City : Lafayette

County : Lafayette

State : Louisiana

Agency : Lafayette Police Department (LPD)

Officer(s) :Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by moonlighting officer at concert venue

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/08/2021, at approximately 2:00 a.m., a Lafayette Police Department officer working a paid security assignment at The District, an event venue at 4607 Johnston Street, fired a .40-caliber handgun during extensive gunfire in the venue’s parking lot following a concert by rapper Webbie. Twenty-two-year-old Dashawn Batiste of Breaux Bridge was found fatally wounded on a grassy area beside the parking lot.
Lafayette police called the Louisiana State Police Bureau of Investigations to investigate the officer’s use of deadly force. Police initially stated that the officer approached a group during the parking-lot gunfire, that one or more people fired toward the officer and that the officer fired back. The officer was in uniform and was one of several Lafayette officers working at the venue, but investigators determined that he was the only police officer who discharged a firearm.
Investigators recovered 118 spent cartridge casings from the parking lot in five calibers: 9mm, .40 caliber, .45 caliber, .223 caliber and 5.56mm. Gunfire struck at least eight vehicles. Police recovered multiple handguns from vehicles and the surrounding area, along with an AR-15-style rifle from one vehicle.
An autopsy found three bullets in Batiste’s body: two 9mm bullets and one .40-caliber bullet. The Lafayette officer who fired during the incident carried a .40-caliber handgun. Publicly released portions of the Louisiana State Police investigation did not establish which of the three bullets caused Batiste’s death. The mixed ammunition recovered from his body showed that he was struck by gunfire from more than one weapon.
A woman who traveled from Houston with Batiste and two other men was shot in the hand and leg. According to the State Police investigative report, she told investigators that gunfire began as their group and another group were leaving the concert. She drove away after being wounded and crashed into another vehicle. Police stopped her car with the two other men inside, while Batiste was later found on the grass near the parking lot.
Batiste’s sister publicly disputed the account portraying him as an active participant in the gunfire. She told KATC that her brother was a bystander who was running away when he was shot.
Louisiana State Police reviewed the Lafayette officer’s body-camera recording, interviewed witnesses and examined the extensive physical evidence collected at the scene. In October 2022, State Police completed the investigation and delivered its findings to the Lafayette Parish District Attorney’s Office. Investigators reported that they found no probable cause to arrest the officer, stating that evidence indicated gunfire had been directed toward him before he fired. The officer’s name was not included in the publicly released investigative records.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.katc.com/news/state-police-investigate-fatal-shooting-on-johnston-street
https://www.klfy.com/local/lafayette-parish/breaking-news-lafayette-police-and-state-troopers-respond-to-shooting-along-johnston-street/
https://www.katc.com/news/lafayette-parish/state-police-deliver-district-officer-involved-shooting-report-to-the-da
https://www.katc.com/news/lafayette-parish/neighbors-share-experience-of-shooting-incident-outside-the-district
https://www.kplctv.com/2021/08/08/one-dead-one-injured-officer-involved-shooting-lafayette/