Officers shot fleeing suspect

Man entered bystander’s vehicle with a gun, OPD says

Orlando Police Department officers shot a 35-year-old man armed with a gun who entered an innocent bystander’s vehicle while fleeing police at a Metro West area apartment complex early Wednesday, officials said.

OPD Deputy Chief Eric Smith told reporters that officers responded just before 1 a.m. to multiple calls from the Vista Verde apartments on Hiawassee Road about a “suspicious person knocking on windows.”

Callers also reported possible gunshots, Smith said.

Officers arrived to find the suspect, later identified as Steffan Haskins, walking through the parking lot, but he soon took off running, Smith said.

“They caught up to him as he started to get into somebody’s vehicle,” Smith said. “The vehicle was driving into the parking lot [and] he jumped into the passenger side of that vehicle.”

Smith said officers approached the vehicle and shot Haskins after seeing he was armed. The deputy chief said Haskins is not believed to have fired the gun at officers.

He said officers fired “to protect the citizen that was in the vehicle.”

The bystander and the five officers involved were not injured.

Haskins was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center. In a statement released around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, OPD said he was “expected to survive.”

Haskins faces charges of carjacking with a firearm, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm and aggravated assault with a firearm, according to OPD.

The five officers involved in the shooting are on temporary paid leave, as is standard practice after police shootings.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will investigate the shooting prior to a review by the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office, after which OPD will also conduct an internal investigation.

Smith said residents of the complex did the right thing by reporting the man acting strangely.

“See something, say something,” Smith said. “He started knocking on windows. People became concerned and they did the right thing, they called the police. We had multiple calls on this and it enabled us to respond quickly and effectively take care of the situation.”