SOUTHAVEN, Miss. — A man is dead after being shot by police who may have responded to the wrong address, the Southaven district attorney said.
According to sources, law enforcement in Tate County received a call from a woman claiming to have been beaten and the man was at a home in the 5800 block of Surrey Lane in Southaven.
Police were investigating the reported claims when they knocked on Ismael Lopez’s door at 11:30 p.m. Sunday. However, DA John Champion said the two responding officers might have gone to the wrong home.
Champion said a pit bull ran out the door when it was opened, and the officers fired at the dog.
A gun was pointed through the door crack; the officers shouted at the man to put down a gun, and when he didn’t, they fired the fatal shots, Champion said.
Lopez was holding the gun when he was shot, he added. The gun was recovered at the scene.
An autopsy, which will take place Tuesday in Jackson, will determine how many times Lopez was shot.
The wife said she heard gunfire and ran to the front of the home to discover several bullet holes in her door and her husband on the ground with a gunshot wound.
The wife said she never saw a gun near him. She also said she never heard the police officer identify himself.
Champion made clear Lopez was not wanted for anything: “The deceased subject absolutely had no warrant out for his arrest. He was not wanted for anything at all. I want to make that abundantly clear at this point so as to not — I don’t want there to be any speculation or disparagement of him by any shape, form or fashion.”
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is looking into the shooting. We are working to learn more about the investigation.
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