Orlando, FL – On May 28, 2022, at approximately 7:12pm, a man believed to be in his 20s was escorted out of the Mall at Millenia by an Orlando police officer working extra duty. People inside the store, believed to have been Neiman Marcus, had approached the officer and said the individual was acting erratically and making customers uneasy. The officer asked the individual to leave and he complied.
Details are still hazy, but it appears that once outside near the Neiman Marcus store, shots were fired by the individual who then left the scene. An all points bulletin was sent out with a description of the subject and he was subsequently spotted across the street from the Mall and an exchange of gunfire followed between him and the officer working extra duty and another on-duty officer who responded.
The individual in question was killed during that exchange and the officer working extra duty sustained minor injuries. The second officer was not injured.
Chief Orlando Rolon said that some body camera footage had been uploaded and that he was waiting for the footage from the second body cam to determine what happened. He also said it is not clear at this time if the individual in question was shot by either officer, or shot himself or was somehow fatally injured he fell.
Body cam footage will be made available to the public within 30 days, Rolon said, and the two officers involved have been placed on administrate leave. They have both invoked Marsy’s Law, and as a result, their names will not be released.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) will conduct an independent investigation of the shooting and its findings will be turned over to the State Attorney’s Office. Rolon said OPD will at that time conduct its own internal affairs investigation.
It is not clear if anyone inside the mall heard the gunfire and, if they did, identified it as such. “If they did,” Rolon said, “I can only imagine what thoughts might have gone through their heads.”
“My condolences go out to the family of the individual deceased and to the officers and their families who are now dealing with this traumatic experience,” Rolon said.
