SOUTHAVEN, Miss. — Attorneys for a Southaven father killed by police are presenting new pictures and pleading for information.
Christmas Eve will mark five months since Ismael Lopez was shot and killed by Southaven Police. They were serving a search warrant for a domestic violence suspect but ended up at the wrong house.
Police say they shot Lopez because they thought he had a gun, though Lopez’s attorneys say he didn’t have one on him at the time.
“We’ve waited five months for an answer, for an apology, for any sort of acknowledgement and indication about what happened,” said Murray Wells, attorney for the family of Ismael Lopez. That’s too long, he said.
“It doesn’t matter how long it takes somehow we`re going to get justice for Lopez.”
The family held rallies and vigils, sharing their pain.
“I don’t want any other families to go through what we’re going through.”
Thursday, attorneys released a video and pictures from the Lopez home shortly after he was shot — bullet holes appear to be in the front door.
“The stories you’ve heard five months ago from the Southaven Police Department were that Ismael Lopez was at the door with the door open. The video, the photographs show that the door was closed.”
He believes evidence shows Lopez was never by the door, but perhaps a dog was that was also shot was.
Wells says they’ve reached out to multiple entities involved in the case and have been met with silence, saying in his experience dealing with Mississippi Bureau of Investigation cases, this is abnormal.
“We’re optimistic that now would be the time to give the family peace. At Christmas by at least acknowledging and trying to explain how it is that this man is gone for the holidays.”
A federal lawsuit has not been filed but could be in the next year.
The MBI says their investigation is ongoing and they cannot comment. Southaven police said they could not comment either because they are waiting on MBI’s final report.
