Officers arrive at the wrong home but get no response after knocking three times and announcing themselves, and witness no signs of trouble at the house.
This is the heartstopping police bodycam video of a shocking mistake.
The tragic incident began when officers with the Farmington Police Department in New Mexico answered a domestic violence call on April 5.
Officers arrive at the wrong home but get no response after knocking three times and announcing themselves, and witness no signs of trouble at the house.
Officers then realize they're at the wrong address, having reported to 5305 rather than 5308.
The call had come in from the home across the street, but before they can make their way over to that property their simple error turns into a fatal ordeal.
As the officers start to back off the property, the homeowner suddenly opens the door while brandishing a firearm.
Police order the man to get his "arms up," then raise their weapons and shots ring out.
The 52-year-old homeowner Robert Dotson soon falls to the ground, dead in his front door.
That is not the end of the incident either, with the deceased homeowner's wife, Kimberly, making her way to the door moments after her husband is taken down in a barrage of bullets.
Kimberly is unaware that the men in the yard are officers. And like her husband, she brandishes a firearm.
She then raises her weapon and shoots at the men in her yard.
Officers open fire once more.
This time around nobody is hit, which is good news for Kimberly and her three children, who are now without a father.
Police also released the 911 call that the homeowner's terrified young daughter made from her bedroom as officers entered the home.
"There were gunshots in the house and my dad was shot!" the young girl says.
She later adds: "My mom was screaming and she was saying like, 'Oh my God', screaming 'Oh my God.'"
Three children were inside the home when the shooting took place just before midnight.
Joseph L. Giacalone tells Inside Edition that this incident escalated much too quickly, and provided some tips on how things could have been better handled.
"It's not as if somebody was knocking down the door, they knocked on the door and that was it," Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant who is now an adjunct at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, tells Inside Edition. "They weren't crashing it, they weren't trying to break into the house. Either, you know, look through the window, don't answer the door at all, or call 911 at this point."
He adds: "But don't exit your house holding a firearm."
The three officers involved have been placed on paid leave. Police are not releasing their names due to the ongoing investigation into the incident that is being headed up by New Mexico State Police.
The police chief is also apologizing to the family.
"I'm extremely remorseful over the whole event," Police Chief Steve Hebbe said at a news conference on Monday. "And I extend nothing but my deepest condolences to the Datson family,"
Chief Hebbe also said on Monday that the reason cops went to the incorrect location in the first place is still under investigation.
