LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The body camera video released Wednesday by Louisville Metro Police told a disturbing story: Officer Brandon Haley ambushed earlier this month in the Chickasaw neighborhood, clinging to life under a barrage of gunfire.

Haley was shot in the abdomen and critically wounded Sept. 7 at 38th and West Kentucky streets. The shots came from a nearby house.

"The first impulse is to pray," said Lydia Nelson with the Louisville Metro Police Foundation. "And then the second impulse is 'OK, what can we do? Let's leap into action.'"

LMPD said Haley was attempting to catch up to a car that didn't have lights on. He got out of his car and radioed back that two subjects were running from the scene. As he ran toward their car, the body camera footage shows Haley stumble to the ground as more than 15 shots ring out.

LMPD Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey said in a news conference Wednesday that Haley was immediately hit. He tried to get up while still being shot at but fell again. After a few moments, the video shows him get up, cross the street and fall into a yard.

"I'm hit! I'm hit! I'm hit! I'm hit! Shots fired!" Haley cried out as he crossed the street.

Officer Colin Billotto, who was also on the scene with Haley, caught up to him in a yard and checked on him as more shots rang out. Billotto returned fire while trying to get Haley to safety.

"You can see the chaos at that scene and how proud we are of their actions that night," Humphrey said Wednesday.

Billotto pulled Haley further away and continued returning fire. He dragged Haley almost an entire block while on his knees before he and other responding officers began treating Haley's wound. They eventually got Haley into a police cruiser, and he was taken to UofL Hospital.

"He's fighting," Nelson said Thursday.

Nelson is the sister in-law of fallen LMPD hero Peter Grignon, who was killed in the line of duty in March 2005.

Lydia Nelson

Lydia Nelson with the Louisville Metro Police Foundation. Sept. 21, 2023. (WDRB Photo)

"Your stomach just drops," she said. "And I don't know, obviously, what his wife is going through but I know what his extended family would be feeling, because I felt those feelings."

LMPD Chief Jacqueline Gwinn-Villaroel said Wednesday that Haley is no longer in critical condition and is improving. Billotto was uninjured but remains on administrative leave, she said.

"We are incredibly grateful that (Haley) wasn't killed that night," Gwinn-Villaroel said.

The Louisville Metro Police Foundation has created a fund to help Haley's family.

"This is going to allow Officer Haley's wife to be by his side," Nelson said. "She's not going to have to worry about the other thing that plagues us all every day, right, especially in this economy."

Five people — Dominique Thompson, Jemond Groves, Quantez Porter, Jacquan Ransom and Demarco Coney Jr. — have been arrested in connection Haley's shooting, but none of them have been charged with pulling the trigger.

LMPD investigators ask anyone who might have information about the shooting to call the Crime Tip Line at 502-574-LMPD (5673). Tips can also be submitted anonymously online through the Crime Tip Portal by clicking here.

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