Summary

During an answer to a Bank Robbery Report Officer Stephanie Bellis Pulls up right next to the bank robber at a traffic light and the suspect opens up on her. After being struck in the arm she bails out of the car. BRENTWOOD - It was either "a fluke or divine intervention" that Officer Stephanie Bellis had left her squad car in gear after bailing out during a shootout with a bank robber on May 6, Brentwood Police Chief Ricky Watson said yesterday. Using the rolling car as a shield from gunfire may have saved her life. Video footage taken by a camera in her car was released yesterday, showing Bellis backing across Old Hickory Boulevard while crouching to avoid fire from bank robbery suspect Gary Brown. She can be seen aiming and shooting back as her squad car rolled slowly toward her, then crashed into landscaping around a gas station. "Had she put the car in park, there's not much doubt in my mind that she would have been killed," Watson said. "She would have been stuck standing in front of a stopped car." That could have made Bellis an easy target for Brown, who was firing at her with a .223-caliber semi-automatic assault rifle. Instead, Bellis' car became a rolling obstacle, shielding her from Brown's shots and creating distance between them. With the release of video footage from patrol cars showing Bellis and Sgt. Tommy Walsh exchanging gunfire with Brown at the intersection of Franklin Road and Old Hickory Boulevard, the Brentwood Police Department declared its investigation into the shootout officially closed. "It is absolutely clear that Officer Stephanie Bellis, Sergeant Tommy Walsh, Officer James Campbell, Detective Richard Hickey, Lieutenant Tommy Campsey and Lieutenant Steve Walling acted well within the law and were completely justified in using the deadly force that resulted in the death of Gary Brown," Ron Davis, district attorney general for the 21st Judicial District, said at a news conference yesterday. "Not only were they justified, but are, in fact, heroes." Campbell, Hickey, Campsey and Walling fired the shots that led to Brown's death. The California man, who had robbed an AmSouth bank on Eighth Avenue North in north Nashville before robbing the Bank of America at 133 Franklin Road in Brentwood, was shot seven times. Three were fatal wounds, Watson said. "We'll never know who fired the fatal rounds," Watson said. Davis said it is his policy to request an investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation when police are involved in shootings, especially ones resulting in a death. Bellis, Walsh and the four other officers involved in the incident were present at the news conference. Walsh still is recovering from multiple gunshot wounds. After asking for Walsh's permission, Watson described a conversation that Brown and Walsh had moments before the bank robber was gunned down. Watson said Brown approached Walsh, who had been shot in the leg and fallen back into his squad car. Brown ordered Walsh to get out of the car, but Walsh told him that he was wounded and could not get up. "Brown then said, 'Where's your weapon?' and Walsh told him he didn't know," said Watson. "It had been dropped on the floorboard. Walsh then said, 'Please don't kill me.' " Brown told Walsh he was not going to kill him, but then pointed his rifle at Walsh and leaned into the car. "In my opinion he was seconds away from executing Sgt. Walsh," Watson said. "Had the actions of the other officers been delayed for any length of time ... there would have been a different result." Walsh was shot in the leg and foot. The two rounds that hit his left foot and the single round that hit his right foot but did not penetrate his boot are now believed to have come from the guns of other Brentwood officers who were aiming for Brown. Officers involved in the shooting and several officials from other departments watched with somber faces as the footage captured from in-car cameras in Campbell's and Bellis' patrol vehicles were played on a big screen. Watson narrated the footage, which did not contain audio. In all, 56 rounds - 21 from the suspect, 35 from police officers - were fired. Brown was killed just six minutes after the 911 call came in. Brentwood police have been contacted by a company called In the Line of Duty, which produces training videos for police agencies around the world. The firm wants to use footage of the shootout to produce a training video. The video camera in Brentwood Officer Stephanie Bellis' patrol car records her movements May 6 as she uses the slowly rolling vehicle as a shield while trying to get a shot at bank robbery suspect Gary Brown. Brentwood Police Chief Ricky Watson said Bellis would have been an easy target for Brown if she had put her car in park, leaving it stationary, before getting out to engage the gunman.