Sheriff speaks about grand jury’s decision to not charge deputes in deadly shooting outside Target

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez held a news conference Wednesday to talk about his deputies who will not be charged in connection to a deadly shooting.

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The shooting happened in April of 2022 outside of a Target store near Kissimmee.

Lopez commented on a grand jury’s decision to clear the deputies involved of any wrongdoing.

Watch Lopez’s full news conference here:

“An officer who uses deadly force appropriately should never, and I mean never, be treated as a criminal,” Lopez said.

Despite this decision, the grand jury is not done looking into this case.

Watch: New questions raised into deadly deputy-involved shooting at Target in Osceola County

Details that emerged after the shooting raised several questions regarding the policies within the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.

Lopez said since the shooting, he has changed some of their policies and looks forward to recommendations from the grand jury.

Watch: Surveillance video released in deputy-involved shooting outside Kissimmee Target

The deputy-involved shooting happened when two men, who were accused of stealing Pokémon cards and pizza from Target, ran to a waiting car and were then blocked by deputies responding from a training exercise nearby.

Deputies said the driver rammed his car into a sheriff’s office vehicle when deputies tried to stop him.

Watch: Bain heralds 100 days, says he’s put Orange-Osceola state attorney’s office on right track

This is the first decision made on an officer-involved shooting since Orange-Osceola County State Attorney Andrew Bain established a new policy, requiring that all officer-involved shootings be presented to a grand jury.

Grand jury members said they will continue to look into how this shooting happened and what changes the sheriff’s office needs to make.

See more in the video above.

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