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Bodycam video: Homeowner killed in deputy-involved shooting
Bodycam video: Homeowner killed in deputy-involved shooting
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - New body camera footage captures the moments leading up to a deadly deputy-involved shooting at an Orange County home in February.
Law enforcement responded to the residence following a 911 call reporting a burglary in progress.
Shortly after arriving, deputies reportedly shot and killed the homeowner, believing he was holding a knife, according to investigative documents.
The backstory:
On Feb. 8, shortly after 11:30 p.m., 26-year-old Jose Luis Lopez was inside his home located on W Castle Street when someone began breaking into his home, the Orange County Sheriff's Office said.
Authorities identified the suspect who broke into Lopez' home as Cristian Contreras.
Pictured: Jose Luis Lopez
Deputies said Contreras had planned to stay the night at the residence but was kicked out after an argument over splitting the cost of beer.
He refused an Uber ride home and used a ladder to break into the house, officials said.
Cristian Contreras (Credit: Orange County jail)
When deputies arrived at the home, they heard a man yelling for help in Spanish. They saw the two men through a kitchen window and began ordering them out of the residence.
Authorities said the deputies saw one of the men – later identified as Contreras – being held "hostage" in a headlock and believed he was in imminent danger.
Screengrab of bodycam video via Orange County Sheriff's Office
Deputies could be heard on the bodycam video telling the other man, later identified as Lopez, multiple times to "drop the knife" before both deputies fired shots, striking and killing Lopez.
According to an arrest warrant, Contreras later told detectives in an interview that Lopez never had a knife, and he tried to communicate with deputies, but he didn't speak or understand English, so his communication attempts were unsuccessful.
Contreras is facing multiple charges, including second-degree murder, for allegedly breaking into Lopez’s home. Deputies said his break-in led directly to Lopez's death.
‘Luis, are you OK? Answer me’
What they're saying:
FOX 35 spoke with Lopez's neighbor and friend, Loida Zunun, following the shooting. Zunun said Lopez called her to ask her to call 911 for him since he didn't speak English.
"I hear them [deputies] start screaming… ‘drop the knife, drop the knife’, and then I hear the shots and I start screaming my friend's name," Zunun said. "I was like, ‘Luis, are you OK?’ Luis? Answer me.'"
"It's not fair. Everything that happened was not fair," Zunun added. "He didn't deserve anything that happened to him."
Did a language barrier play a factor in the shooting?
Experts said the language barrier may have played a role in the shooting.
"I really truly think the language barrier may play a huge role in this shooting, and hopefully they can learn to cope with that in terms of training or at least getting that information through the communication center and translate that to the deputies on the scene," law enforcement expert, James Copenhaver, said.
What's next:
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting, as is standard protocol in deputy-involved incidents. The State Attorney's Office will then review the findings before conducting their own internal investigation.
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The Source: This story was written based on information shared by the Orange County Sheriff's Office. Additional reporting was based on interviews conducted by FOX 35 with James Copenhaver and Loida Zunun.