Report: Deputy shot armed man in back
22-year-old running in Florida Mall parking lot, document says
A 22-year-old man was shot in the back by an Orange County deputy sheriff Friday while running and holding a gun in his waistband in the parking lot of the Florida Mall, according to an affidavit.
The document was filed in Orange
County Circuit Court on Saturday, the same day Salaythis Melvin died from his injuries at Orlando Regional Medical Center. In the affidavit, Deputy Marcus Bullock wrote that Melvin had made Agent James Montiel feel threatened by turning his head while clutching the gun, prompting Montiel to open fire.
Melvin’s cousin, Jasmine Geiger, said Monday her entire family is crushed by his death. She said Melvin, who everyone called “Salay,” was an “upbeat dude, always smiling.”
“There’s other ways they could have handled that situation, but to shoot him in the back because he ran … that’s ridiculous,” Geiger said. “It’s so hard for everyone right now; I’m kind of numb.”
A Change.org petition calling for Orange County leaders to release the body-worn camera footage of the shooting had gained more than 300 signatures just hours after it was created Monday. The Sheriff’s Office has not yet responded to an Orlando Sentinel public record request for the video.
Dozens of people gathered at the mall Monday to protest Melvin’s death, with signs that said “Justice for Salay” and “Stop killing people.” They marched along Sand Lake Road chanting “No justice, no peace.”
Among them was Serilla Crawford, another of Melvin’s cousins. When someone screamed, “Say his name,” she responded in a chorus of others: “Salaythis.”
“We wanna know what happened — what really happened,”