ORLANDO, Fla. — Investigators are close to completing a review of the officer-involved shootings during the Pulse terror attack.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement expects to turn over its investigation to the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office in the next two weeks.
9 Investigates reporter Karla Ray asked whether the review could show any deaths at the hands of officers.
FDLE officials told 9 Investigates that the question might be answered only by the FBI, but State Attorney Jeff Ashton told Eyewitness News he isn’t aware of any shots fired by officers contributing to any of the victims’ deaths, so far.
“When you actually walk through (Pulse), it drives home the brutality and deliberateness of the killer,” Ashton told Eyewitness News.
Ashton toured the crime scene before the building was returned to its owners as part of his responsibility of determining whether all the shots fired by officers there were lawful.
Fourteen law enforcement officers fired their weapons at Omar Mateen during the June 12 shooting. Mateen killed 49 people and injured 53 others.
Ashton said, given what happened in the case, the review is more of a formality.
“It certainly seems pretty obvious that the use of force was justified, and in many instances very heroic, but we still have to look at it,” Ashton said.
Ashton has worked to make the review of officer-involved force, including shootings, more transparent. Since he took office in January 2013, he’s reviewed the use of force by 97 officers and recommended charges against four: Peter Delio, William Escobar, Chase Fugate and David Johnston.
During the police response at Pulse, there were three instances of shots fired.
“There were initial shots fired by one officer, an officer fires in the club from a different direction trying to stop Mateen, and then there's the third incident when Mateen attempts to attack the officers and they return with fire,” Ashton said.
Officer narratives in police reports, said Mateen and several hostages escaped through a hole made by a SWAT team using a BearCat vehicle.
Ray asked if the review would determine whether any of the deaths were at the hands of the officers.
“To the extent that forensic science can answer that question, yes, that will be addressed. There's nothing in what we have seen so far that would seem to suggest that's the case,” Ashton said, noting that the review is still not complete.
FDLE agents told Eyewitness News that only the FBI will be able to answer that difficult question for certain. The FBI review will look at the autopsies of all 49 victims as part of its criminal investigation, which could take months.
Contact Karla Ray for more on this story.
Cox Media Group
