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SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT IN ORLANDO RELEASES ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IN REGARD TO WWE PERFORMANCE CENTER SHOOTING

By Mike Johnson on 2015-08-31 15:42:12

The Orange County Sheriff's Department in Orlando, Florida held a media conference to address the incident earlier today resulting in a man being shot by one of their detectives outside the WWE Performance Center. 

Sheriff Jerry Demings stated they received a call at 1:30 PM from WWE about a 29 year Hispanic male who had been showing up continuously over the last month of so as he had been "fixated" on a female WWE performer.  WWE had been having a police presence at the facility but did not today.

The male in question was arrested most recently on 8/24.

WWE informed the police that the individual was back causing problems again today, was acting deranged and was observed holding what appeared to be a knife.  Two plain-clothes detectives responded. The individual charged one of the detectives, Officer Steve Wahl, and assaulted him after being given instructions to stop.  The deputy backed up 75-100 feet and the suspect followed.  When he did not follow instructions to stop, he was shot once.  It all happened "very quickly" and they took the action they thought was appropriate because it was believed a knife was involved.    The incident took place in the parking lot outside of the Performance Center.

The suspect is currently in surgery with "life-threatening" injuries at Orlando Regional Medical Center.   The police are not yet identifying due to his family not yet being notified of the incident. His official status is critical but stable.

The police are still processing the crime scene, so they cannot comment on whether they have found a weapon.

The WWE personality in question that the suspect had a "fixation" with was not on site today but it's not unusual for well known WWE personalities to visit.  On those days, WWE increases the security. 

WWE and the local authorities have been in conversations about the company hiring to have deputies on site at all times.

The deputies that approached the individual today were aware of him and had dealt with him before.  The individual has a criminal record involving violence and robbery.

The Sherriff said he reviewed some of the video footage from "the facility" and the deputy had tried to keep distance but the suspect closed in on him, leading to the shot being fired.

The suspect was not involved with WWE and had no relationship with anyone who trains at the Performance Center. 

WWE had done what they needed to make sure their staff was protected and WWE had reached out to have a relationship with the Sheriff's department and to make them familiar with the location and what was going on at the facility.

This was the third involvement authorities had with the suspect.  WWE had taken out an injunction to prevent him from coming onto their property but he had not been served with it at the time of the incident.

When asked if there was anything that could have been done to prevent the incident, The Sheriff said that when a "human element" is involved and someone has that sort of fixation, you can't predict what will happen.

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