Editor’s note: This story discusses suicide. If you or a loved one are suffering a mental health crisis, call the suicide hotline at 988.

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - First Alert 4 Investigates has obtained body camera footage showing two St. Louis Metropolitan Police (SLMPD) officers walking away from a still-breathing victim of a gunshot wound to the head because they did not want to take the call.

The footage contains the body camera video of several responding officers throughout their response to the incident. Law enforcement experts said the inaction of the first two officers is in stark contrast to the actions of the others on-scene. First Alert 4 is choosing to name only the officers accused of “reckless disregard” by the state.

The footage from Sept. 10, 2023, shows the response by former St. Louis Metropolitan Police officers Austin Fraser and Ty Warren to a 911 call placed by Urayoan Rodriguez-Rivera saying he planned to take his own life. First Alert 4 Investigates found the cases of Warren and Fraser this fall through a routine search of administrative hearing commission filings. A reporter’s open records request filed in October for body camera footage from the incident was fulfilled on December 18.

Warren’s body camera recorded the incident. Fraser’s did not, though the reason is unclear.

At 6:26 p.m. on the date Rodriguez-Rivera took his life, the officers discovered him beneath a tree on the east side of Forest Park, still breathing with a gunshot wound to the head. Warren can be heard telling Fraser that Rodriguez-Rivera is still alive and that they need to transport him.

“We need to take this (expletive) then,” Warren tells his partner.

Fraser replied that they would not take the call because his shift ended in 30 minutes.

“We aren’t taking this (expletive),” Fraser responds. “I get off in 30 minutes. Let’s cruise around and come back.”

The officers leave Rodriguez-Rivera with a gunshot wound and still breathing beneath the tree. Neither officer calls for medical help for the victim or tries to render any first aid. Neither officer reports to dispatch that the victim was discovered.

Nothing on Warren’s body camera video shows either of the officers tried to find or secure a firearm used by Rodriguez-Rivera. His death was determined to be a suicide, but the gun was never found.

Mitch McCoy, a spokesperson for SLMPD, said in a statement that the firearm is listed as stolen and the investigation into it is ongoing. The department is monitoring for hits in the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN). “To date, there have been none,” he said.

As the officers walk away from the dying man, Fraser says to Warren, “They’re (other officers) gonna find this (expletive) and we’re gonna be like, ‘Oh (expletive) you found him.’” The two officers can then be heard laughing on body camera audio.

The two officers drive through several city streets and return. They arrive just before another officer does. In that officer’s body camera footage, Fraser and Warren can be seen “looking” for the victim they had walked away from minutes earlier. It was 6:34 p.m. when that officer arrived, about eight minutes after Warren and Fraser responded, left, and returned.

The third officer then spots Rodriguez-Rivera and immediately notifies dispatch. He then makes a priority request that EMS come to the scene for a person still breathing with a gunshot wound to the head.

Other officers also arrive shortly after and tape off the scene. One officer checks Rodriguez-Rivera for a pulse and finds one, which he describes as “super weak.” As that officer searches the area for a firearm, another officer tries to render first aid.

At 6:38 p.m., an officer’s body camera shows Warren and Fraser walking to their police cruiser and leaving the scene for a second time. At least two other officers mention it.

“You know what’s (expletive) up, Warren and Fraser just left,” one of the officers says in body camera audio.

“Why,” asks the other.

“I don’t know,” he replies.

Another officer said he was going to “out the (expletive) out of Fraser” for leaving the active scene at 6:38. “You can’t just leave,” the officer said to a colleague while in a police cruiser.

EMS arrived at the scene at 6:53 p.m. and transported Rodriguez-Rivera to the hospital. That was about 27 minutes after Warren and Fraser arrived the first time and 40 minutes after the victim made the initial call to 911.

Rodriguez-Rivera later died at the hospital. The St. Louis Medical Examiner’s Office determined the death a suicide by gunshot to the head. It was later discovered he left a note and paid his share of the rest of the year’s rent before taking his own life.

The actions of the officers facing disciplinary actions and more details about Rodriguez-Rivera’s life and what led to his suicide are included in the First Alert 4 Investigates in-depth report “Reckless Disregard” published in November. Warren’s peace officer license has been revoked through the disciplinary process. A disciplinary hearing in Fraser’s case is set for Tuesday, January 7.

Both were fired from the department after police administrators found the footage during a routine review of body camera recordings.

“The two individuals are no longer employed by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department,” agency spokesperson McCoy said in a statement. “While we are unable to comment on specific personnel matters, SLMPD holds its officers to the highest of standards. Appropriate disciplinary action will be taken if an officer is found to have violated policies.”

Rodriguez-Rivera’s mother, who lives in Puerto Rico, expressed disbelief at what First Alert 4′s reports have revealed. In a text message in Spanish, she described the officers’ actions as a “lack of humanity,” saying, “I hope the full weight of the law falls on these so-called police officers.”

Warren and Fraser have not returned our multiple attempts to contact them for comment on our reports.