The dead man found after an Orlando officer-involved shooting at a tattoo shop last week was a tattoo artist, not the rifle-wielding suspect who threatened police, the department said Monday.
An attempt by the Orlando Police Department to execute a search warrant related to drugs and guns around 2 p.m. Friday at a tattoo shop on Edgewater Drive near the intersection with Lee Road left one of the nine sought-after suspects dead. OPD identified the man as Kaleb Zachary Williams, a 20-year-old tattoo artist at the shop, in a Monday news release.
When officers arrived at the scene Friday, a person alleged by OPD to be a registered gang member exited the rear of the shop with an AK-47-style rifle, the release said. When the man didn’t comply with commands to stop and show his hands, officers opened fire on him, causing him to retreat inside the shop.
Officers entered the shop an hour later and found Williams dead with a stolen gun on his body, the release said. Williams appeared to have been standing near the rear door when officers fired at the alleged gang member, according to the release, but did not explicitly say what Williams’ cause of death was.
A search warrant affidavit released by OPD Monday said Williams was a tattoo artist at the shop.
The alleged gang member was uninjured and was not associated with the search warrant, the release said.
Body-camera footage released by OPD shows SWAT arriving at the back of the shop, where a person stands holding a cup. Officers tell the person to drop the drink. As the person begins to set the drink down, the alleged gang member suddenly exits a door a few feet to the person’s side with what appears to be a firearm in his hands.
One officer appears to yell, “Police, stop!” while another yells, “Let me see your hands!” The alleged gang member quickly begins to run back inside. Officers then begin firing at him.
The footage is shown from three different perspectives and points out a second armed suspect behind him, although the second suspect and any weapon that person may have is not clearly seen.
The release said the execution of the search warrant allowed police to recover five firearms, multiple boxes of handgun and rifle ammunition, 190 grams of cannabis, including some prepackaged for sale, a case of the overdose-reversing drug Narcan and items including scales and a vacuum sealer with bags.
Of the eight suspects besides Williams, three were located at the shop. Criminal charges, along with the alleged gang member, are pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation, the release said.
The investigation began on Sept. 17 after OPD received an anonymous tip reporting illegal drug sales inside the shop. Officers responded to the shop two days later regarding a suspicious incident where the caller reported witnessing multiple illegal drug transactions inside the shop, according to the release.
Officers conducted surveillance over the past two months at both the shop and on associated social media accounts. Officers observed multiple hand-to-hand transactions consistent with the sale and delivery of illegal drugs, the release states.
Two traffic stops related to the surveillance operation resulted in drugs being recovered. Social media posts made inside the business also depicted firearms and illegal drugs, and videos and photos posted online from inside the business show guns and drugs on full display, according to the release.
Officers identified nine individuals associated with ongoing narcotics sales at the shop. They collectively had criminal histories including burglary, robbery with a firearm, possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, sex offenses, drug offenses, auto theft, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, the release said.