OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – Months after a deadly shooting by deputies in Osceola County, many questions about what happened remain unanswered and neither state investigators nor the sheriff’s office have been forthcoming on details.
In April, Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez held a brief news conference to announce two of his deputies had been involved in a deadly shooting in the parking lot of a Target, offering few details about what had happened or what led to the shooting.
“It’s an officer-involved shooting. Two of our officers are involved. They’re fine. We have one deceased male, and we’re fully cooperating with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement,” Lopez said following the shooting. “I’m not going to be commenting because the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is actually going to assume this investigation, and we don’t want to step on their toes.”
The sheriff then walked away without answering any further questions. That was on April 27 in the parking lot at 4795 W. Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway.
On April 28, News 6 obtained charging affidavits for Joseph Lowe, 19, and Michael Samuel Gomez, 18 — both of whom were hurt in the shooting.
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In the documents, deputies said the men were seen entering the store, selecting an empty bag and loading it with packs of Pokémon cards and a pizza.
The documents also show this was the incident that led to deputies opening fire on the black Audi, killing the driver.
However, the documents gave little information on the actions that prompted the gunfire, only saying that deputies attempted to make contact and two of them opened fire.
FDLE released a brief statement about its investigation into the shooting.
On Wednesday, April 27, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office requested FDLE to investigate their deputies’ use of force that evening near the Target in the 4700 block of West Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway. Our active investigation continues. As with all of our use of force cases, we conduct a thorough investigation which includes interviewing officers and witnesses, collecting and analyzing evidence, and establishing a timeline of events. Once we have determined the facts of the case, we will present our findings to the state attorney’s office, who will make any charging decisions.
On May 2, U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, D-Florida — who represents Osceola County in Congress — called on the sheriff’s office to release more information about the deadly deputy shooting.
“We encourage the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office to make facts and evidence surrounding this shooting public as soon as possible. Transparency is critical to public confidence,” Soto said.
[RELATED: Find all of News 6′s previous coverage of the deadly deputy shooting at an Osceola County Target]
State Sen. Victor Torres, D-District 15, also called for more transparency from the sheriff’s office.
“Because this is an ongoing investigation involving a deputy shooting, we would have to wait until the FDLE investigation is complete before making any comments,” Torres said.
On May 3, Attorney Albert Yonfa identified the man who was shot and killed by the deputies as Jayden Baez, 20. Yonfa and attorney Mark NeJame are representing Baez’s family.
News 6 made multiple calls to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office looking for more information as to what led up to the deadly use of force. Requests for comment were met with directions to reach out to FDLE about its investigation.
On May 4, attorneys NeJame and Yonfa released a statement offering their clients’ account of the events leading up to the shooting
The two said in a news release that deputies followed Lowe and Gomez inside the store, and watched them leave and enter the car “without being stopped or detained, even though probable cause would have existed.”
“There was simply no justification for what took place,” NeJame said in news briefing.
The attorneys said one of their clients, Lowe, was shot six times, even though he had his hands up.
“As the young men, including teenagers, commenced slowly driving off, several unmarked deputy vehicles moved in to box them in. From all the information obtained to date, the deputies never identified themselves as law enforcement and were in unmarked vehicles,” the law firm said in a statement. “As the car continued to drive off, the deputies, without legal cause or justification, fired multiple gun shots into their vehicle without regard for the safety of the occupants or civilians in the area.”
The attorneys also said they plan to file suit against the sheriff’s office.
News 6 was able to question Lopez in person that day about the shooting and why his deputies used deadly force.
“Let’s do this: I’ll make one little statement. When I first took office, I promised transparency,” Lopez said. “I turn it over to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, so they could do their investigation. Once that investigation is concluded, then we’ll talk about it. We’ll have all the facts, and we’ll go forward from there. That’s all I’m stating.”
Lopez also released a brief statement about the shooting which revealed deputies were performing training exercises in a nearby parking lot before the shooting took place.
“Because they were training, my deputies were wearing tactical gear, and none of the initial deputies on scene were equipped with body cameras,” Lopez said.
On May 5, NeJame accused the sheriff’s office of making excuses.
“There were no bodycams on,” Nejame. said “What we’ve heard is an excuse for that. ‘Well, it’s tactical training.’ Well, if it’s tactical training, you should have your body cams on.”
At this point, Lopez still had not said what prompted the gunfire from his deputies.
“If the sheriff’s office is saying they have full transparency, then show us your cards,” Nejame said.
News 6 reached out to the sheriff’s office for a copy of its body-camera policy, which was not available online. It would be six more days before the sheriff’s office would release that policy to News 6.
Several other major law enforcement agencies in Central Florida make their policies available online or released those policies to News 6 upon request. Those can be found here.
On May 6, NeJame released a 23-second video statement from Lowe.
“I came out of Target. I sat down in the car,” Lowe said. “Michael comes out (of) the store, he sits down in the car. As soon as he closes his door, two unmarked cars...”
At this point in the video statement, the clip is edited to skip ahead to a different point in Lowe’s account.
“They didn’t say, ‘Hey, freeze.’ They didn’t do any of that,” Lowe said. “And then, not even half a second, they start shooting into the car, and I put my hands up and got shot six times.”
On May 9, the sheriff’s office released surveillance video from the Target parking lot.
Lopez also held a news briefing to explain the video and the actions taken by his deputies 14 days prior.
Lopez said several deputies attended a pre-scheduled training at Bronson Memorial Highway near the Target on the night of the shooting, April 27.
“During the second part of the training, two detectives were in the Target parking lot and noticed suspicious behavior,” Lopez said. “A black Audi had caught their attention because they noticed the vehicle’s license plate was concealed by a piece of paper.”
According to Lopez, these detectives noticed four men sitting in the Audi. He said the detectives watched as two men from the car — Gomez and Lowe — put on masks, possibly because of COVID, and pulled hooded sweatshirts down over their foreheads prior to entering the Target.
The four men in the vehicle were later identified by deputies as Lowe, Gomez, an unnamed minor and Baez — the last of whom was in the driver’s seat.
Lopez said that, after seeing this “suspicious behavior,” training was concluded, and deputies were told to “gear up” and head to the Audi, though none of the deputies involved in the shooting were equipped with bodycams.
According to Lopez, this is because deputies wear tactical gear during training while bodycams are typically given to patrolling deputies.
“Detectives moved in and attempted to block the Audi with their unmarked agency vehicles,” Lopez said. “Although unmarked, each vehicle had their emergency lights on when contact was made with the suspect’s car.”
Lopez said detectives exited their vehicles and stood in front of the Audi, wearing vests with the word “Sheriff” written on them and identifying themselves as law enforcement.
Lopez said the surveillance video showed Baez accelerated the Audi into several of the agency’s vehicles, damaging a total of four vehicles and injuring deputies.
“Despite members of law enforcement clearly identifying themselves as being blocked in by several vehicles with red and blue lights, Mr. Baez accelerated the Audi. In a few seconds, Mr. Baez rammed into and damaged a total of four agency vehicles,” Lopez said.
The sheriff said that had Baez not died due to the shooting, he would have been facing charges of aggravated assault, battery on a law enforcement officer and unlicensed concealed carry of a firearm. He added that Lowe and Gomez faced petit theft charges.
[READ THE FULL OSCEOLA COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE NARRATIVE BELOW]
The same day, NeJame and Yonfa also held a news conference accusing Lopez of distorting the facts.
The lawyers said the Osceola detectives actually caused the damage to their own cruisers when they attempted to box in the black Audi that the four young men — Jayden Baez, 20, Michael Gomez, 18, Edwin Lowe, 19, and an unidentified 17-year-old — were in.
“They also claimed that our clients hit their vehicle,” NeJame said. “Nonsense. Watch the video. We’re breaking it down for you. We’ll take you through it. The other (sheriff’s) vehicles created all the damage.”
NeJame pointed out that the unmarked pickup truck involved in the attempted takedown made contact with the black Audi first, prior to the car attempting to pull away from the deputies.
“That’s why there was damage to their vehicle because they hit him,” NeJame said.
The attorney said officers failed to properly perform a box-in maneuver, allowing the Audi to move through a gap between the sheriff’s vehicles.
“The (sheriff’s deputies) failed to perform a box-in maneuver, the (Audi) was able to exit that way and then a black Pathfinder — unmarked, no lights — came and T-boned the (Audi),” Yonfa said.
Additionally, NeJame argued the four men didn’t see any identifying features that would reveal the cars boxing them in were driven by law enforcement officials.
“Why wouldn’t they try to get out of there?” he said.
NeJame also disputed that any emergency lights were activated on the sheriff’s office vehicles when they initiated the stop.
“Do you see any lights on it?” NeJame said. “Do you see any police lights on? Do you see any marked vehicles? Do you see anybody in tactical outfits, tactical gear? Identifying themselves emblazoned as they would have you all believe.”
On May 11, News 6 received the Osceola County Sheriff Office’s body-camera policy.
The policy they released took effect in December of 2019. The nine-page policy does not explicitly say tactical deputies are not equipped with body cameras. It does say in part that deputies who are equipped and trained shall make sure it’s on and recording during certain circumstances involving citizen interaction — including the stopping and arresting of a suspect.
News 6 asked the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office why its body camera policy does not state which departments are assigned body cameras and why aren’t body cameras worn during training. A response was not given.
Read the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office body-camera policy below:
The sheriff’s office has not released any further information to News 6 since sending its body-camera policy. FDLE has said its investigation is ongoing and has not released any details.
News 6 has checked court dockets daily to see whether there has been any movement on the charges against Gomez and Lowe.
On Thursday, court documents were obtained showing the charges had been dropped against the two men.
“From the investigation which has been made, it is the opinion of the writer that this case is not suitable for prosecution,” the documents read.
The sheriff’s office released a brief statement to News 6. It reads:
“I have learned the charges against Joseph Lowe and Michael Gomez have been dropped due to representatives of Target no longer wanting to pursue charges. We respect their decision not to move forward with the criminal justice process. However, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office remains committed to responding, investigating, and holding all individuals who commit crime responsible for their actions.”
The NeJame Law Firm released a statement on the charges being dropped against its clients. It reads:
“We are gratified and thankful that the Office of the State Attorney has exercised its discretion and dropped the charges. The unnecessary militaristic actions of the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office caused the maiming and death of these young men over the theft of Pokemon cards and a pizza. It is the deadly actions and policy of the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office that must be focused on and addressed.”
The law firm also released a response to Lopez’s statement:
“This paltry excuse of a response is again a misrepresentation of the facts and an effort of the Osceola Sheriff’s Office and it’s Sheriff to mislead the public.
Target made it clear from the onset that they did not wish to prosecute. This was known weeks ago. The Office of the State Attorney has been evaluating the charges and the abhorrent actions of the Osceola Sheriff’s Office. A careful evaluation led to the honorable and appropriate action to dismiss.
The focus should be on the militaristic and horrific policies of Sheriff Lopez’ office which has caused the death and maiming of these young men.
Justice will be served and this is only the first step in assuring that those responsible are held to the law and the consequences of their actions.”
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