Daniel Lewis, a 27-year-old Black father of two with a clean criminal record and a concealed weapons permit, was shot and killed by police in South Florida in a case that is raising more questions than providing answers.
The son of a retired New York City police officer was killed on May 31 after being shot five times in the backyard of his home in Miami Gardens, a municipality in northern Miami-Dade County with a majority Black population.
That night, Miami Gardens police officers were working with agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives in a joint task force to combat gun violence, according to NBC Miami.
Law enforcement officials told CBS Miami they were “looking for somebody” but have yet to release the name of that person or the reason why they were looking for that alleged person.
Attorneys representing Lewis’ family say it all started when law enforcement agents in an unmarked black car with no emergency lights or sirens began following his cousins and sister, who were driving through the neighborhood in their car.
Believing gang members were following them, they panicked and drove into the backyard of their family’s home. His sister then ran out of the car and into the home through the back door.
Lewis, who was inside the home, stepped out the back door with his gun to see what was going on and was shot and killed within seconds.
“I watched my son take his last breath, and that’s the hardest thing a mother could ever do, from the first to the last,” said his mother, Angela Lewis, during a press conference in front of the Miami Gardens Police Department on July 2, according to NBC Miami.
“Nobody will understand what was taken from us, and all we want to know is why, why, why did it have to happen?”
Police are claiming he shot at them first, prompting them to return fire, but attorneys representing the Lewis family said none of the shells at the scene came from his gun.
“What was the rush? What was the urgency to fire upon Mr. Lewis this night?” asked attorney Chris Lomax during the press conference, during which attorneys said they plan to file a lawsuit, according to NBC Miami.
“There was none; this was a bad shoot; it shouldn’t have happened.”
Still No Answers
It’s been more than a month since the shooting, and neither Miami Gardens police nor the ATF have released much information about the shooting, including details about the person they were supposedly looking for or confirmation on whether Lewis even fired his gun.
“Unfortunately, some individuals discharged firearms at some Miami Gardens detectives as well as some of my agents,” Christopher Robinson, the agent in charge of the Miami ATF office, told NBC Miami the night of the shooting.
“Gunfire was returned, one individual struck and he’s unfortunately deceased.”
Miami Gardens Police Sgt. Emmanuel Jeanty told the Miami Herald the night of the shooting that the two agencies were conducting surveillance in the neighborhood because there had been several shootings involving high-powered weapons in the previous weeks.
But they did not say whether any of those shootings were connected to Lewis and his family.
“We have a police car with bullet holes in it,” Jeanty told the Herald, adding that several weapons were recovered outside the Lewis home.
Angela Lewis told the Herald that her 25-year-old nephew, who had hopped out of the car, was taken into custody after being ordered to lie on the ground, but he was released within hours.
Attorneys representing Lewis’ family still have not determined whether he even knew they were cops.
“Not once did anyone yell police, stop, police, freeze,” attorney Ariel Lett said during the press conference.
“Instead, what they did was they gunned down a law-abiding citizen in his backyard, on his back doorstep, without a warning.”
Under the known circumstances, Lett believes Lewis had every right to defend his home from people with guns who never identified themselves as cops, according to Local 10.
“The castle doctrine would seem to apply that you have a man who committed no crimes, who was known that the family committed no crimes and who his sister just ran into the house screaming for her life as the car she was in was being shot at by unknown assailant.”
