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The Florida City Commissioner, who confronted and fired at a supposed thief on display at a military surplus store earlier this month, was charged with murder on Friday.
Michael Dunn, who occupies the position of Lakeland City Commissioner for the Southwest District, was confronted by a man who, according to police, took a hatchet from the store he owned when he shot and killed him. The surveillance images of the incident, which took place on October 3, were released on Monday.
Christobal Lopez, 50, was killed in the shooting.
Dunn was charged with second degree murder on Friday. If he is found guilty, he could spend up to life in prison.
Lakeland Police Department
Dunn, 47, had claimed to have acted in self defense, knowing that this man was in possession of a hatchet, and had quoted state law "defending your land". The attorney general of the 10th judicial circuit in Florida has said the opposite.
"I have determined that this case and Mr. Dunn's actions did not fall under the law," said Polk State Attorney Brian Haas at a press conference Friday night.
According to an affidavit and store surveillance footage, Dunn left his office at Vets Army Navy Surplus when he saw Lopez take a hatchet from a shelf and stick it to the waistband of his pants. Dunn grabbed a handgun and put it in his belt and prevented Lopez from leaving the store. According to the affidavit, the two men quarreled before the hatchet fell from Lopez's pants and fell to the ground.
Lopez said that he would pay for the hatchet and that he went back to the counter before "hastily trying to leave the company with the hatchet in his hand", according to l & # 39; affidavit. We see Dunn catch Lopez's shirt to prevent him from leaving. He then loses his grip on the shirt and raises his weapon at eye level and fires two shots.
One shot hit Lopez in the left torso and another in the back, according to the affidavit. He died on the scene. Dunn did not attempt to "rescue the victim," says the affidavit.
City of Lakeland
"At no time does the victim appear to have made threatening moves towards the suspect," the affidavit says. "In addition, the testimony of witnesses (…) revealed that the victim had not made any verbal threat to the suspect."
The affidavit also includes statements to the Dunn police after reading his rights in Miranda: "The suspect said he was afraid, but when asked what would have happened if he had let go of the victim The suspect replied: It is fair to say that if I retired and let someone enter and take what he wanted, there would be no problem! "
Rusty Franklin, Dunn's lawyer, told ABC News Monday, before arresting his client, that "all legal defenses are being analyzed and will be prosecuted".
Franklin later said at a press conference Monday that Dunn "acted responsibly and lawfully."
Dunn is currently detained at Polk County Jail and the date of the indictment has not yet been fixed.
Florida Law Office
The indictment is the second example in three months in the state in which a prosecutor did not accept a "stand your ground" defense. Michael Drejka was charged with manslaughter after shooting a man in front of a convenience store in Clearwater in August. The security images in this incident showed that Markeis McGlockton was pushing Drejka to the ground after confronting her fiancée in front of the gas station. Drejka shot McGlockton.
Florida law "hold your position" became a national priority in 2012 with the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the fatal murder of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida. Laws 776.012 and 776.013 state that a person "does not have the obligation to withdraw and has the right to defend his cause if he uses or threatens to resort to lethal force does not engage in no criminal activity and in a place where he has the right to be. "
Matt Stone, Matt Foster and Joshua Hoyos of ABC News contributed to this report.
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