A grand jury declined to indict the officer who fatally shot Ismael Lopez at his own home in Southaven last year, according to John Champion, a Mississippi prosecutor involved in the case.
Champion also said he will release neither the name of the Southaven police officer who fired nor the name of another officer who was on the scene. He also will not release the investigative file in the now-closed case. He could not cite any law that supports those decisions.
He said the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation reviewed the evidence of the July 2017 shooting, and that the FBI conducted a parallel investigation.
Champion said his office presented the case to a grand jury in June and July and that the grand jury declined to indict the officer who shot Lopez – one of two who had come to the man’s house by mistake.
The fatal shooting prompted public protests and lawsuit threats by the family of Lopez, an auto mechanic originally from Mexico. The limited information released about the case to reporters in Hernando Wednesday is unlikely to put the matter to rest.
A lawyer for the man’s family said attorneys will hold a news conference Thursday.
In an interview Wednesday, Champion refused to release the names of the officers involved. “I’m not giving those out. Why would I?” He said they haven’t been charged with a crime.
Asked to cite a Mississippi law that prevents him from releasing the names, Champion didn’t do it.
He also refused to release the investigative file on the now-closed case. Across the state line in Shelby County, authorities routinely release investigative files of police shootings once the cases are closed. The information released online includes crime scene photos, witness statements and videos, though some of the key information, including names, is redacted.
“We don’t give investigative files out,” Champion said.
Asked to cite a Mississippi law that stops him from releasing the file, he said. “I’m not getting into this with you right now, ok? You want to ask me some questions, that’s fine. I’m not giving you my file.”
Asked again about any law that prevents the release, he said, “I’m not going to discuss this with you any more, OK? If you want to get your attorneys involved and go through all the hoops, that’s fine. You’re not getting the case file.”
Champion said the facts were presented to the grand jury with options for both homicide and manslaughter charges, and the jury declined to indict.
An overwhelming percentage of grand jury presentations in the United States result in indictments – the political statistics web site FiveThirtyEight.com reported that of 162,000 federal cases in 2010, grand juries failed to indict in just 11 of them.
Grand juries involving police officers are an exception, with grand juries declining to indict in high-profile cases such as that of the policeman who shot Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014.
Lopez, 41, was shot at his home on Surrey Lane in Southaven the evening of July 23, 2017. Champion said shortly after the shooting that officers were looking for a domestic violence suspect.
The officers were at the wrong house, Champion said, but knocked on the door, and that Lopez was armed with a rifle.
“The officers went to the address they thought was the right one,” Champion said. “They knocked on the door. They didn’t go busting up into the house.”
The officers instructed Lopez to put down the gun, Champion said. Lopez was shot once in the side of the head. He may have been turning away when he was shot, the district attorney said.
Family members and friends of Lopez immediately disputed the official account of the shooting.
Aaron Neglia could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.
Aaron Neglia earlier identified the officers he believed involved, saying he hoped naming the officers would put pressure on Southaven to release the information. The names were never publicized since no charges had been filed against them.
Champion said he met with the Lopez family face-to-face Wednesday before the press conference.
“I’m not going to tell you what they said, but I did meet with the family and obviously it was difficult,” he said.
Champion said in the press conference that the autopsy report was “in my opinion very poorly written,” and that it was two-to-three pages.
Some others he’s seen, he said, are six to eight pages and significantly more comprehensive. Champion said he was not able to confirm or reject the officers’ stories based on that report.