The Brief
One man died in connection to an Orlando Police drug warrant investigation.
Orlando Police say Kaleb Williams was associated with the search warrant.
Friends and family of Williams held a vigil for him on Sunday.
ORLANDO, Fla. – A mother of a man who died in an Orlando Police standoff shooting said her son was not the intended target.
What we know
Kaleb Williams, 20, died during an Orlando Police Department standoff on Nov. 14.
The Orlando Police Department arrived to serve a search warrant related to drug and weapons charges at a tattoo business. Nine suspects were connected to the search warrant, the department said.
Orlando Police Department Chief Eric Smith said the department believed all the suspects in connection to the search warrant were at the tattoo shop and criminal activity was happening in the shop.
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Around 2:05 p.m., police said a man – later identified to not be one of the wanted suspects, but a man associated with a gang – exited the back of the tattoo shop, armed with an AK-47. Officers told the man to stop and show his hands, but he ran back inside after seeing SWAT officers, the department said. Police fired several shots at the suspects.
During this time, Williams – who police said was a suspect associated with the search warrant – was standing by the back of the businesses while officers fired at the man with the gun. Williams was found to have a stolen firearm, OPD said.
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“There were multiple people barricaded inside and when we made entry, we did find a deceased person in the business,” Smith said Nov. 14.
FOX 35 cameras captured multiple Orlando police vehicles, police officers, and SWAT members surrounding the shopping center. Glass at a tattoo business appeared to have been shattered, according to SKYFOX video from the scene.
No officers were hurt in this incident.
‘Not the intended target’
What they’re saying
William’s friends and family held a vigil in his memory, saying that he was not the intended target of the gunfire.
In a vigil – held outside a tattoo parlor on Edgewater Drive and Lee Road – dozens of people gathered, carrying green and gold star-shaped balloons and candles of Williams.
His mother, Natalie Birch Escribano, told FOX 35 her son was not the person with the rifle. She said he was sitting in the shop when the shooting took place. She claimed her son was just a man trying to live out his dream as a tattoo artist, she told FOX 35’s Matt Trezza. Williams is a father to a young son..
“He was literally just here working,” Escribano said. “I talked to him at 1:51 p.m. and 20 minutes later, my baby was gone, and it’s not fair.”
The backstory
Orlando Police began its investigation on Sept. 17 after receiving an anonymous tip reporting illegal narcotics sales inside the tattoo shop. When officers responded to the shop on Sept. 19, OPD said a caller reported witnessing multiple illegal drug transactions occurring inside the establishment.
In a Nov. 17 press release, OPD detailed its two-month investigation, saying:
OPD conducted surveillance both at the business and on associated social media accounts, while also viewing videos and photos posted online from inside the business that showed guns and drugs on full display, the department said. Officers also observed multiple hand-to-hand transactions consistent with the sale and delivery of illegal narcotics. Two traffic stops related to the surveillance operation resulted in narcotics being recovered. Social media posts made inside the business also depicted firearms and illegal drugs.
Following the SWAT situation, three of the eight suspects in connection to the search warrant were taken into custody, with charges pending. Charges for the man with the rifle are also pending, OPD said.
What we don’t know
Smith said it’s also under investigation if the suspects were employees of the tattoo business.
Officers involved in the shooting are on paid administrative leave during the ongoing investigation. The names of the officers involved have not been released at this time.
What’s next
FOX 35 also reached out to the state attorney’s office for further updates on the case.
The Source
Information in this story was sourced from previous reporting and interviews from a Nov. 16 vigil.