The Florida Department of Law Enforcement continues to investigate the fatal shooting at the Punta Gorda Police Department.
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Coel was identified Wednesday as the officer who fired the shots that killed Knowlton in front of more than 30 people at a Punta Gorda Chamber Police Night event.
A Punta Gorda lawyer said Wednesday that Coel shouldn’t have been on the Punta Gorda force.
Mary Knowlton’s neighborhood had recent break-ins, and she was playing the role of an intruder when she was fatally shot, said her son, who could not immediately be reached by Reuters.
Punta Gorda Police Chief Tom Lewis addressed the media Thursday morning and called this “a devastating time” for Knowlton’s family, the police department and the community.
Asked about the weapon used, Lewis said it was a revolver that had been used in other Citizens Academy demonstrations.
“We were unaware that any live ammunition for this particular weapon existed”, Punta Gorda Police Chief Tom Lewis said in a press conference after the incident.
Officer Lee Coel was put on administrative leave Tuesday as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates why real ammunition was used by mistake at an event created to bring police and the public together in Punta Gorda. An outside expert determined Coel’s use of force was justified, but the Punta Gorda Police Department did change its K-9 policies after the incident. She served on the library board from 1993 to 2001, said current Library Director Jake Grussing.
Lewis announced grief counselors have been dispatched to the Knowlton family, witnesses, officers and the community.
Coel, 28, resigned from the Miramar department shortly after the complaint, following about 14 months on the job.
Steve Knowlton, one of two children of Mary Knowlton, said in an earlier interview at his parents’ home that on his mother’s behalf, he was forgiving the officer who fired. “I was standing 10 feet away from her when the guy shot her”, said Knowlton.
And even after the tragedy, he said, of the officer, “I want him to know.we forgive him”.
Also discussed was a pending civil lawsuit against Coel, who ordered his K-9, Spirit, to attack a bicyclist he stopped for not using a light on his bike. “As your Chief of Police, I accept full responsibility for the actions of my department and officers”. He was later cleared of those accusations, he wrote in his application to the Punta Gorda Police Department. There is dash cam video of the arrest. For a minute and 47 seconds, that officer nearly let that dog kill my client.
So how did real bullets end up in the gun used Tuesday night?
She had moved to Florida after living for years in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota.
“There’s too much hate in this world, in America, we always feel like we need revenge and it doesn’t solve anything”, Steve Knowlton said.
Because despite the heartache, Gary Knowlton says he is learning to forgive, “if I hold a grudge against them, it’s only gonna hurt me cause in the long run I’ll just sit there and suffer with my torment”.
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“I caught Knowlton bending over clutching her abdomen”, Paquin reported. The couple split their time between Minnesota and the small Gulf Coast community.
