ORLANDO, Fla. – This year, there have been nine people fatally shot by Central Florida law enforcement officers responding to calls for domestic violence, suicidal suspects or traffic violations.
Several officer-involved shootings have occurred in public places, including popular shopping centers in Orlando, Lake Mary and along a busy highway in Brevard County.
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After four law enforcement shootings occurred in the greater Orlando area in less than two weeks, News 6 reviewed its records from January 2017 to May 16, 2018, along with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's independent investigations.
In the past three years, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has investigated 244 officer-involved shootings and/or use-of-force incidents in Florida.
Not all officer-involved shootings are investigated by the FDLE; some agencies elect for internal reviews, but the majority of the officer-involved incidents in the last 18 months have been investigated by the FDLE, records show.
The May 3 deputy-involved shooting on the Beachline is not under FDLE investigation, because Sheriff Wayne Ivey established last year that the department will conduct its own internal reviews.
Last year, News 6 covered 23 deputy- and police-involved shootings in Orange, Osceola, Volusia, Lake, Seminole, Brevard, Flagler, Marion and Polk counties. In 2018, there have been 14 law enforcement-involved shootings in that same area.
According to 2017 FDLE records, Orange and Volusia counties both asked for four use-of-force cases to be investigated by the state agency.
This year, the FDLE has received 10 use-of-force cases from the Orlando Region to independently investigate, including Tuesday's fatal police-involved shooting in Lake Mary. One day later and about 20 miles south of the Lake Mary police-involved shooting, a Winter Park police officer shot a man during a reported disturbance, police said.
What happened leading up to shootings?
During six shootings last year that happened in Brevard, Marion, Orange and Volusia counties, the deputies or police were called to the scene for a well-being check or for a report of a suicidal person.
This year, seven of the 13 shootings started as calls for domestic-related issues.
A January call regarding domestic violence at a Lake Wales home led to a deputy-involved shooting that left a man dead, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
Officials said Shannon Cables, 46, was threatening his 45-year-old wife and 19-year-old daughter with various weapons.
A 35-year-old man who threatened to kill himself in February died after being shot by a Brevard County Sheriff's Office deputy; he was responding to a call from the victim's wife, who was concerned he was going to kill himself.
Were the subjects armed?
In 16 of the 24 cases News 6 covered last year where a law enforcement officer shot a person, that person had a firearm.
This year, eight people shot by law enforcement were armed. In seven cases, including an April 20 Orange County Sheriff's Office deputy-involved shooting in which a homicide suspect was shot and killed, whether the subject was armed was not made public due to open investigations.
Were they fatal?
Nine of the 23 officer-involved shootings last year in the greater Orlando area were fatal. This year, nine subjects have been killed by law enforcement gunfire, based on News 6 and FDLE records.
[Editor's note: Hours after this story was published, another officer-involved shooting happened in Central Florida. This story has been updated to include that incident.]