Newly released body camera footage and 911 calls show how a alcohol-fueled altercation between a Lake County man and his parents ended in his fatal shooting by sheriff’s deputies last week.
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Deputies responded around 3 p.m. Thursday to a home on Morningside Drive near Leesburg after the man’s mother called 911 and reported that her son, 32-year-old Erik Leopold Sharpe, was drunk and armed with a gun. He had thrown her to the ground and punched his father, she told police.
When deputies arrived at the home, Sharpe was standing outside. He looked to be drinking from a wine bottle, with a gun at his feet, the video taken from a deputy’s body-worn camera shows. He ignored commands to get on the ground and instead reached for the gun, and then two deputies shot him, the footage shows.
A professor of criminal justice at the University of Central Florida who reviewed the footage said she expects the shooting to be deemed legally justified, given the firearm, Sharpe’s behavior and the violence his family reported.
His mother told police the argument began when Sharpe’s parents told him to stop drinking, and that he eventually went into his bedroom and fired two shots into the ceiling before her husband managed to take away his gun and hide it. But she added there were other guns in the home, which Sharpe appeared to access after losing the first gun, according to audio of her 911 call.
“He just grabbed a bottle of vodka. He’s going to chug it. He’s going to go find another gun…he just beat me up and threw me to the ground…I can’t believe this is happening,” she said. “Oh God, I didn’t want it to happen this way.”
The mother added Sharpe would probably be violent towards deputies. Shortly before deputies arrived, she said, Sharpe went outside the home and she could hear gunshots go off.
The body-camera footage showed deputies arriving at the home. Sharpe and another man were standing outside in front of the residence, with Sharpe appearing to drink, with a handgun at his feet.
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A deputy approached them and commanded Sharpe to get on the ground. Instead, Sharpe picked up the handgun, and the deputy shot him twice. Sharpe stumbled back, stunned, and dropped the gun. The deputy then shot him several more times until he fell, body camera footage taken from that deputy’s perspective shows.
A second deputy also opened fire on Sharpe from a distance with a rifle. He fired almost immediately upon exiting his police vehicle and fired over the hood of the car. The body camera footage from his perspective does not allow a good view of Sharpe.
Dr. Jacinta Gau, the UCF criminal justice professor, said the deputies’ actions made sense.
She said that these sorts of situations unfold quickly and unpredictably, with suspects sometimes acting impulsively, taking hostages and harming others —including family — or themselves. She added that the Lake County situation was especially dangerous given that Sharpe was armed and ignored commands.
“The perceived danger was probably extreme. There is the obvious threat to the deputies themselves, but also the potential for the suspect to take the gun into the house,” she said. “If he did that, he could harm anyone inside the home or create a hostage situation.”
She said the first deputy’s shots were justified, but that she has questions about whether the second deputy fully complied with safety protocols. However, she expects his shots will likely be considered legally justified as well.
As is standard procedure, the deputies involved were placed on leave while the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates the shooting, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.