Knowlton was shot to death by officer Lee Coel during a “Shoot, Don’t Shoot” simulation at the police department Tuesday evening.
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Photos on the Punta Gorda Police Department Facebook page posted in March show academy participants engaged in simulations similar to the one that police described was taking place Tuesday night.
But that’s not even Officer Coel’s worst offense – he was actually involved in a case of police brutality last October when he used excessive force on 25-year-old Richard Schumacher while arresting him for not using a headlight on his bicycle…
“I don’t think he did this intentionally at all”, Weinberg said about the shooting of Knowlton.
During a news conference Tuesday, Lewis said it is his job to oversee all of the Punta Gorda officers. Police say an officer accidentally shot Mary to death during a citizen’s academy “shoot/don’t shoot” exerci.
“I told everyone that this officer was unsafe and he needed to be fired”, said Weinberg, who didn’t identify his client.
“I know there was no ill intent, just mistakes”, Gary Knowlton told CBS Miami Thursday, just two days after his wife of 55 years died at the Punta Gorda Police Department. Police said she was “mistakenly struck with a live round” during the training. Citizen academies normally use simulation guns that look real but fire non-lethal rounds, police spokesman Lt. Katie Heck said. “It’s such a tragedy”, he said.
“She volunteered to be the victim in this mock shooting”.
Mary Knowlton moved to Florida after living for years in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. “I was standing 10 feet away from her when the guy shot her”, said Knowlton.
The couple had two sons, Hartwigsen told the AP.
Steve said that his father hadn’t yet been able to see his wife’s body, more than 12 hours after the shooting. Steve Knowlton said, his eyes filling with tears.
And yet, Knowlton said his mother would have wanted him to forgive the officer who pulled the trigger.
“Love you Mom I will miss you forever you were our sail and now we’re a very lost without you”, one of her sons, Steven Knowlton, posted on Facebook Wednesday.
“At first, we thought she just fell down”.
Carolyn Hartwigsen, of Edina, Minnesota, told The Associated Press she was a longtime friend of Knowlton, adding she loved books and sought to instill that in young readers.
“So much is on the internet now”. A woman who answered a phone listed in public records for Coel said she didn’t want to talk and hung up. “That was important to her”, Hartwigsen said.
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“She was the salt of the earth, a lovely soul and the kindest woman you would know”, she said.
