PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (AP) – The officer who shot and killed a 73-year-old retired librarian during a police “shoot/don’t shoot” demonstration in Florida was accused of using excessive force with his police dog and resigned from another police agency in 2013 for failing to satisfactorily complete an agency field training program.
Officer Lee Coel, 28, was put on administrative leave Tuesday as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates why real ammunition was used by mistake at an event designed to bring police and the public together in the small Gulf Coast city of Punta Gorda.
Authorities are expected to hold a news conference about the shooting Thursday morning.
Lieutenant Katie Heck, the spokeswoman for the Punta Gorda Police, said Coel has worked for the department since 2014. She said Coel frequently gave department presentations and tours, “specifically role-playing in these shoot/don’t shoot scenarios.”
The department did not make Coel available for comment Wednesday. A woman who answered a phone listed in public records for Coel said she didn’t want to talk and hung up.