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Witnesses Recount Moments Before Man With Air Rifle Is Killed By Police

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FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) -- Two days after suspended Broward Sheriff's Deputy Peter Peraza was formally charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of computer engineer Jermaine McBean, we are learning what several witnesses told investigators happened that summer day in 2013 in Oakland Park.

The information is contained in a motion filed by Eric Schwartzreich, the attorney for Peraza.

Schwartzreich is trying to get copies of McBean's medical records to show his mental state in the days leading up to the shooting.

"What was going on in McBean's life that he wanted to purchase a shotgun and walk down our streets and point it -- yes point it -- at a deputy," Schwartzreich said. "This is someone that was unhinged."

A manager at the pawn shop where McBean bought an air rifle said he originally wanted to buy a shotgun, but the pawn shop doesn't sell them. The manager described McBean's demeanor as "hyper." The manager says he put the air rifle in a plastic bag.

As McBean walked home, a nearby hospital employee saw him walking with the air rifle in his hand. She thought the gun was real and called 911.

"I watched him until I saw the police arrive but he did look irate. He looked like he was angry. He was stomping his feet. He was yelling something and he was moving very quickly northbound on Dixie Highway," the witness told deputies.

Once McBean got home to the Green Tree apartments, a woman with her kids in the complex pool said she saw him and that "...he looked to me to be either a crazy person or he was high. That's what I took from the way he was walking, the way he was carrying self."

She added, "He just looked zombified."

That mother said she saw deputies order McBean to put down the air rifle several times, but he didn't. That's when Deputy Peraza opened fire.

McBean's family maintains he did not hear the commands because he had earbuds in his ears and was listening to music. That eyewitness made no mention of earbuds in her statement to sheriff's investigators but also said she was short-sighted and needed glasses.

David Schoen, the attorney for the family of Jermaine McBean, argues that an eyewitness says McBean never pointed the gun at deputies and kept the air rifle on his shoulder the entire time. Schoen also says McBean was bipolar but not a threat.

"There's no issue of his being unable to function or as this attorney says 'unhinged,'" Schoen said.

Peraza's attorney says McBean had a mental breakdown at work in the days prior to the shooting and had to be hospitalized.

However, Schoen says McBean got help.

"He went to the hospital," Schoen said. "They regulated his medication and gave him a clean bill of health."

McBean's neighbor told investigators she believes his bi-polar disorder made him act erratically in the days leading up to the shooting. She told deputies he started cursing and talking to himself and that one night he was "upstairs kicking and stamping" for hours.

Ironically enough, she said she did not call the sheriff's office to report the disturbance because she feared they would "rough him up."

She added, "I didn't want that for him because he didn't trouble nobody."

A court hearing on the medical records is scheduled for January 28th.

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