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WBRZ Investigative Unit: New body cam video shows how deadly Iberville courthouse shooting unfolded
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IBERVILLE — The WBRZ Investigative Unit has obtained new body camera video showing the moment a suspect grabbed a captain's gun inside a courthouse interrogation room on Oct. 6, 2025, killing one deputy and seriously injuring another.
The footage, taken from Deputy Mickayla Stewart's body camera and seen publicly for the first time, shows Capt. Brett Stassi Jr. standing in the doorway of the interrogation room with suspect Latrell Clark behind him. As Stassi Jr. reaches for a pair of handcuffs from Stewart, Clark reaches around Stassi's body and grabs his gun.
Deputy Charles Riley, who was standing nearby, rushes to jump on top of Clark. The shooting that followed killed Riley and wounded Stassi Jr. Clark also died after turning the gun on himself.
Now, two lawsuits against the sheriff's office allege that decisions made in the minutes and hours before the shooting may have contributed to what happened.
Attorney Layne Dufour filed the second lawsuit on behalf of the fiancée of the late Lt. Anthony Mascaro and Deputy Makayla Stewart. The suit alleges negligence and wrongful death, claiming the events of that day caused both Mascaro and Stewart to develop crippling PTSD.
Dufour says Mascaro was the first deputy on scene after the call went out and was both Riley's supervisor and friend. After trying to save Riley's life, audio from Mascaro's body camera shows he was clearly upset.
Mascaro's fiancée alleges the stress led to his fatal heart attack in March.
"We do have evidence, video recordings, even from other members of the sheriff's office, saying, 'Do we believe this incident contributed to his death because of the stress he was under? Yes, we do,'" Dufour said.
Stewart, a trainee who had only been in field training for a few weeks, was present for the shooting and the first to tend to Riley.
"We have Deputy Riley, Capt. Stassi and Latrell Clark, the suspect, all in this interrogation room who have all been shot, and the only deputy there to take control of the scene after the shooting was this trainee deputy," Dufour said.
Like the first lawsuit filed on behalf of Riley's family, this one also points to Stassi bringing his girlfriend and daughter to Clark's interrogation. Stewart's body camera shows the two in the room directly next to where the interrogation occurred, watching from a monitor before the shooting.
Dufour says their presence created a distraction after the shooting, as Stewart had to get them out of the building.
"This caused a lot of interruptions with her being able to lock down the crime scene, start going in and helping whoever was shot," Dufour said.
The lawsuit also alleges Stassi should not have had his gun on him during the interrogation.
"Not supposed to bring a weapon into an interview or an interrogation room at any time," Dufour said.
Dufour also claims Stassi Jr. was not wearing the proper holster.
"His was not on what they call a level 1 holster, so where there is a snap or some kind of mechanism that holds down the weapon so that these things don't happen," Dufour said.
Sheriff Brett Stassi had no comment about the suit Wednesday.
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