As we continue to investigate the Sept. 17 officer-involved shooting in Immokalee we can provide the following update:
Three deputies responded to the 1:12 a.m. call for help from a frightened woman on Edenfield Way reporting that a man she did not know was banging on her door demanding to be allowed inside. She advised the dispatcher that the man was armed with a shovel.
Cpl. Pierre Richard Jean, K9 Cpl. Nathan Kirk and Deputy Brian Tarazona responded to the scene. When they arrived they saw a man later identified as Nicholas Morales-Bessannia, 37, near the front door of the residence with a shovel in his left hand. Morales-Bessannia began walking down the driveway toward deputies still armed with the shovel. As he approached deputies he ignored repeated commands from the deputies in English and Spanish to get on the ground. When Morales-Bessannia was getting close to the deputies he released the shovel from his left hand and produced a shiny, sharp object in his right hand that deputies believed to be a deadly weapon. He then ran toward the deputies, continuing to ignore commands to get on the ground. When Morales-Bessannia was even closer to the deputies, still charging toward them with the weapon in his right hand raised in a manner that deputies perceived to be threatening, Cpl. Jean, in fear for his life and the lives of the other deputies, fired four gunshots and Cpl. Kirk released K9 Gomez. The dog bit Morales-Bessannia in the right shoulder. The entire encounter between deputies and Morales-Bessannia lasted 13 seconds. During the last few seconds of their encounter, Morales-Bessannia was running toward the deputies with a raised weapon.
Deputies rendered first aid until EMS arrived on scene.
The shiny object was later determined to be a pair of sharp landscaping shears. Landscaping tools and shovels are considered to be deadly-force weapons when used in the manner that Morales-Bessannia was utilizing them.
As is our policy, we are continuing to conduct both a criminal investigation and an administrative investigation. The entire criminal investigative file will be forwarded to the State Attorney’s Office for their independent review.
