Another person was inside the home at 2407 E Gordon Street in Tampa and saw the whole thing.
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When they arrived they located the victim outside of the house with a gunshot wound to the chest.
Alexandro Garibaldi, 24, stated that he heard a gunshot and found Mendez outside with a gunshot wound.
Police say the vest was found inside the house with a gunshot.
However, upon further investigation, police found a witness with a different story.
At 10 p.m. on Saturday, Joaquin Mendez, 23, tried on the bullet-resistant vest, Tampa police said. According to the witness, Mr. Mendez sat in a chair, put on a bullet proof vest, and wondered aloud whether it still worked. Garibaldi took out a handgun and said “Let’s see”.
When police found the vest, it had an entrance hole in it, the email noted.
The bullet traveled through the vest, and Mendez later died at a hospital.
Garibaldi was arrested and charged with manslaughter and being a felon with a firearm. He was booked into the Hillsborough County Jail.
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No one answered the door at the home Sunday afternoon, where yellow police tape lay in the front yard.
