In avideo of a jailhouse meeting between accused police shooter Othal Wallace and an unidentified woman, Wallace lamented his circ*mstances.
“I’m a father, you know?” Wallace told the woman. “I’m a brother, you know?I’m a son, you know, I’m an uncle, you know,I’m all of that. You know what I’m saying? I’m a lot more than what they are showing you all. I want you all to understand.I’m a good guy that gotcaught up in asituation.”
Wallace isaccused of shootingDaytona Beach Police Officer Jason Raynor in the headon June 23.He is charged with attempted first-degree murder with a firearm of a law enforcement officer.
Previously:Daytona Beach police shooting suspect Othal Wallace now in Volusia County jail
The video of Wallace’s meeting with the woman at the Volusia County Branch Jail is amongrecords the State Attorney’s Office releasedearlier this week. Assistant Public Defender Rosemarie Peoples,whois defending Wallace, did not return a message seeking comment.
The records also indicatethat after Wallace was arrested near Atlanta days afterthe officer’s shooting, the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives founda Glock 179mm pistol. The pistol was turned over to the Daytona Beach Police Department, which then submitteditto the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for examination.
The Glockhada 17-round magazine which contained 16 rounds. An FDLE case tracking form stated the Glock 17 may have been used in the shooting of a police officer.
Daytona Beach Police could not find a bullet casing on the night of Raynor’sshooting but they had better luck the next morning,when they returned indaylight and found a bullet casing about 11 a.m., according to the records.A box for a Glock 17 firearm was found in an apartment where Wallace was living with his girlfriend on Kingston Avenue, according to records.
‘Do you live here?’
Raynor, who is still recovering from the shooting, was patrolling the Kingston Avenue area on June 23 in response to complaints about criminal activity, police have said. That’s when Raynor encountered Wallace, who was sitting in a Honda in the parking lot of the apartment where he lived.
Raynor’s body camera video shows him walkingup as Wallace satin the carwith the driver’s side door open.
“How’s it going? Do you live here?” Raynor asked.
“What’s going on?” Wallace replied.
“Do you live here?” Raynor asked.
“What’s going on?” Wallace said again as he stood up out of the car.
“Sit down. Sit, sit, sit, sit,” Raynor said.
“Sir,” Wallace said.
“Can you sit down?I’ll talk to you,” Raynor said.
Raynor placed his right hand on Wallace’s left shoulder. Raynor also briefly placed his left hand, which was holding a flashlight, on Wallace’s right shoulder.
“Come on now. Come on now. Don’t do this,” Wallace said.
“Sit, sit down,” Raynor said.
“Why you asking me doI live here?What’s going on?” Wallace said.
“Do you live here, yes or no?” Raynor said.
“What’s going on, though?” Wallace replied, now standing. Then Wallace said, “Stop back up,” andappearedto push away from Raynor.
“Stop, stop,” Raynor said. At that point, the released video became shaky, and then ended.
Wallace shot Raynor in the head, according to a charging affidavit. The officernever drew his firearm, which was still holstered when other officers found him.
Wallace was arrested on June 26 after a law enforcement task force found him ina treehouse in DeKalb County, Georgia, near Atlanta.
Raynor, 26, remainsin critical condition at Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, according to Daytona Beach Police spokesman Messod Bendayan.
Wallace isbeing held without bond at the county jail.
Read More:Suspect in shooting of Daytona Beach officer, Othal Wallace, captured in Georgia treehouse
Read More:Tow truck drivers 'light up the sky' for wounded Daytona Beach police officer
‘That is my boyfriend’
After the shooting, detectives searched the apartment where Wallace had been living. They found the Glock 17 firearmbox, ammunition, eight rifle magazines loaded with bullets, and a drum magazine loaded with rifle bullets. They also foundtwo ballistic vests in Wallace’s girlfriend’s apartment.
One of the vestshad “a round Velcrobadge with the words ‘The New Black Panther Party —Freedom or death,’” according to records. One of the vests contained steel plates.
Wallace associated with groupsthat expressed anti-police sentiments, said Amy Iandiorio, an investigative researcher at the Center on Extremism at the ADL, in a phone interview.
“We can see that he chose groups and movements that placed emphasis on tactical training, and on arming communities and protesting white supremacy and police brutality,” Iandiorio said.
Wallace participated in a YouTube broadcast with members of the New Black Panthers, “which we know to be one of the largest and most organized anti-semitic and racist militant organizations in the country,” Iandiorio said.
In the apartment where Wallace lived, police also found three handgun holsters,agreen ammo can with bulletsand gun cleaning items, and another ammo can with gun accessories and a cleaning kit, the records show. They also found an empty hunting rifle bag and a first aid kit.
Wallace’s girlfriend of six years said she had two children with Wallace. Police were talking to her on the night of the shooting when a photoof Wallace appeared on her phone. The photowas taken from Raynor’s body camera and the apartment building’s owner had sent it in a mass text message to residents, a report stated.
“Oh my God, that is my boyfriend,” the girlfriend said when she saw the photo, according to the released records.
The girlfriend told police that she had been home from work and was with hertwo children for about two hours when she heard a loud noise outside, records show.She said she did not look outside because people were yelling and fighting outside at all hours.
But a short time later she heard a lot of yelling, looked out the door and saw multiple people trying to help a police officer who was on the ground.The girlfriend said people were asking for towels so she grabbed as many as she could find and took them to where the injured officer was on the ground.
The girlfriend told detectives that Wallace’s father lived in Gainesville, but she believed “that he was not that close with him” and added she did not think he would go there, according to the released records. Eventually, police found Wallace’s Honda in Alachua County near Gainesville.
Policefoundphotos of Wallace holding different types of firearms while wearing the exterior ballistic vest, documents state.
‘Belly of the Beast’
The State Attorney’s Office also released video of a woman visitingWallace at the county jail.
In that video,the unidentifiedwoman toldWallace that many people support him. She toldhim that they will have“all boots on the ground” for Wallace’s court date. The woman said she and othersare raising money for him but would like him to say something to help them raise more money.
“I also want to ask that you all do the best that you can to support me,” Wallace said. “Because if it was you all in this situation I would be definitely be do all in my power to bring justice and bring you know good images to you all’s name.”
Wallace said he is in the “belly of the beast” locked up in jail. Wallace and the woman also complained about his portrayal in the media, saying the mediaare reducing his life to a “29-second” video, presumably meaning the video from Raynor’s body camera.
Wallace then told the woman he cut his hair before his arrest in Georgia, and regretted doing so.
“That’s why I don’t have my hair today because I had to save my life by cutting it,” Wallace said.
“If I wouldn’t of cut my hair I wouldn’t be heretoday, because they came looking for the dread head,” said Wallace, adding he believed he would have been shot.
Wallace said law enforcement did not know who he was until after he was in handcuffs.He saidhe wanted to be able to tell his story rather than end up beingshot.
“I couldn’t leave this world without you allhaving the answers to the truth,” Wallace said. “That’s why I decided that It would be best that I just lay it down for the people and bring the truth so that I could have my day in court,” Wallace said.
Hetoldthe woman he prays every day and he does 100 push-ups a day to stay in shape. He said he is kept away from other inmates.
He added: “I’m stillyour Israelite brother, I’m still your militant brother. Every revolutionary goes through this.”
Wallace said justbefore the “incident” he was making a cake with his 8-year-old daughter.
“You want to know what's crazy? I was just bakinga cake with my daughter. Man,you understand, like an hour or two before the incident,” Wallace said. “I just kind of want you all to understand life can change really really fast, you feel me?”
Toward the end of the jailhouse video visit, Wallace appearedto shed tears as he talks about his family, apparently meaning his close friends as supporters as well as his relatives.
“I love my family. I love my family and it’s hard to hold back these tears when I,when Isee you all’s faces,” Wallace said.
“It’s OK. It’s OK. This is a lot,” the woman responds.
“Forgive me for crying,” Wallace said.
‘Blood on my hands’
In an Instagram video released as part of the records, Wallace also complainedthat police don’t respect Blacks.
“They don’t know our history, they don’t know our culture, they don’t know our ethnic background, that’s why they don’trespect us,” Wallace said in the video. “That’s why when we see Black officers we be like, ‘Huh, that’s a breath of fresh air right there.’ Because we know they have an understanding for our struggle. We actually give them the benefit of a doubt.”
Another Instagram post on Wallace’s account contained a more ominous message: “1 Day I will Take Great Pride And Honor In Getting Me Some [Pejorative term for police] Blood On My Hands and Boots......If U Cant Feel This Energy Following Me Is Not Goin To Be Healthy For U.....I Pray Against My Enemy And Wish Death To All Who Are Oppressive To The Black Culture.......Black Power!!”
The records also indicate that Wallace applied for and was denied a Florida concealed carry permit in 2020 because he had been convicted in 2018 in Brevard County of possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana.
