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Hicks has spoken publicly about what she saw that night many times. Lamontagne told his story to the National Post last July, on the condition his name not be used. He agreed to go on the record Wednesday for the first time.

According to Lurie’s account, the video shows Hicks and Lamontagne step back into apartment 305. Loku, meanwhile, is standing in the doorway when something catches his attention from the other end of the hall. He turns and walks slowly back toward apartment 302, the hammer held loosely near his waist.

At that point, the video cuts out. According to Lurie, it cuts back in again some time later with Loku already on the ground and the police officers over him.

What happened in the missing interlude is, effectively, everything: the confrontation, the shooting, all of it. Lurie said his understanding of the gap is that the camera, which was motion-activated, just malfunctioned.

Jason Gennaro, a spokesman for the SIU, said investigators looked at the possibility the tape might have been tampered with, but eventually “obtained definitive confirmation” no footage “was deleted or altered.”

In any case, what happened next remains the subject of no little dispute.

In a press release last month, the SIU said two police officers came up the stairs, pulled out their weapons and stood just past the doorway to the stairwell, about eight or nine metres from Loku and the door to 305.

According to the SIU, they repeatedly ordered Loku to stop and drop the hammer. He refused. Instead, he kept walking toward them, and said, “What you gonna do, come on, shoot me,” then raised the hammer above his head. When he was two or three metres away from the officers, one of them shot him, twice.