The city of Southaven and now-retired Southaven Police Chief Steve Pirtle were dismissed from the case in June after Senior US District Judge Michael P. Mills found they weren’t liable for the officers’ actions under federal law.
According to a report by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, Lopez and Linares were in bed on July 24, 2017, when officers knocked on the door of their trailer. The officers were intending to serve a domestic violence warrant on a neighbour across the street, but got the addresses confused.
Officers told the state investigators that they knocked on the door without identifying themselves. The door opened, a dog ran out, and Lopez pointed a rifle through the cracked door, officers said. Maze shot the dog and then, in quick succession, Durden fired multiple shots at Lopez.
A third officer on the scene told investigators he heard Durden order Lopez to drop the rifle several times before shooting Lopez.
No known video exists of the shooting.
The 41-year-old man died from a bullet that struck him in the rear of his skull, more than two metres from the door. Police said he was running away.
Lawyers for Lopez, who died before he could be taken to a hospital, have disputed that he pointed the gun at officers. They noted his fingerprints and DNA were not found on the rifle, which was recovered more than six feet away from his body. They suggested that Durden shot Lopez because the officer was reacting to Maze shooting the dog.
When state investigators arrived, they found Lopez lying dead in a prone position with his hands cuffed behind his back in the middle of the living room. A rifle was lying on the couch.
After the shooting, a state grand jury declined to indict anyone in the case.
Southaven mayor Darren Musselwhite, in a statement, again offered condolences to the family of Lopez, but praised the outcome.
“This verdict proves what we’ve believed to be correct since day one as our officers responded appropriately considering the circumstance of being threatened with deadly force,” Musselwhite said. “We’ve stood behind them during the last six years for this very reason and, for their sake, are glad this trial is over.”