Osceola County Sheriff’s Office Justifies Execution Of Man At Kissimmee Target Over Stolen Pokemon Cards | Orlando Area News | Orlando

After a week of stonewalling, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office has finally seen fit to release information about the shooting murder of a 20-year-old Jayden Baez.

The young man, along with three others, came into contact with OCSO deputies who were training nearby. They spotted Baez’s vehicle and marked it as suspicious, saying a piece of paper hid the license plate. Target employees accused two members of the group of stealing Pokémon cards and pizza. Deputies saw two of the men get into a vehicle and ended their training exercise to confront them.

What happened next can be seen in part in store surveillance footage shared by Sheriff Marcos Lopez. Four unmarked police vehicles aggressively pull over and lock up the car in question. The car tries to speed past the OCSO vehicles, crushing them as officers wearing bulletproof vests pour out behind the fleeing car. Only one of the four cars is visibly flashing police lights in the clip. Officers wearing “Sheriff” vests can be seen but stand behind the car. There is no audio and it is unclear whether the deputies have announced themselves.

Deputies fired into the vehicle, killing Baez and wounding two others. Lopez claims a handgun was removed from the car after the incident and shared a photo of the gun. Lopez shared a posthumous list of charges for Baez that included a charge of carrying an unlicensed firearm. Whether or not Baez had a concealed weapon license is not in the public domain under Florida law.

Lopez claimed at a Monday news conference that deputies in front of the vehicle “verbally shouted the words ‘Stop!’ Sheriff’s office! confrontation.

Attorney Mark NeJame, who represents the families of Baez and another man injured in the incident, said Lopez was trying to “deflect blame and responsibility for [the office’s] dangerous and deadly policies.”

“The sheriff is well aware that police lock-in procedures require law enforcement vehicles to strike the targeted vehicle to lock them in so they cannot move,” NeJame said in a press release. “The policies of the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office are dangerous and wrong and they have created this deadly situation by their actions.”

NeJame added that the coordinated nature of the box-in maneuver makes the lack of body cameras suspicious.

“The failure of the MPs involved to wear body cameras is a complete and utter breach of transparency, as has been so often promised. The MPs knew they were going to be involved in a criminal investigation and should therefore have put on their body cameras. ,” he said. “They had time to get into their vehicles, call their fellow deputies and coordinate their activities. They had time to put on their vests, according to the sheriff. Why didn’t they take the seconds to attach their body cameras?”

Surveillance footage can be viewed below.

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