New Documents, Photos Released In Case Of Deputy Who Shot Man With Air Rifle

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BROWARD (CBSMiami) – The crime scene photos released by the Broward State Attorney's office on Tuesday show what Broward Sheriff's Office detectives saw when they arrived at the Green Tree apartments in July 2013 to investigate the shooting death of Jermaine McBean.

The photos show McBean's unloaded air rifle, his shoe and the shell casings from the shots fired at him. The photos also show Deputy Peter Peraza after the shooting with his weapon and ammunition.

Peraza is accused of manslaughter in McBean's death - the first deputy charged in a case like this in Broward in decades.

Also included in the release Tuesday is an interview with Michael McCarthy, who told investigators that he witnessed McBean walking along Dixie Highway with the partially covered air rifle, saw him walk into the apartment complex and saw what led to the shooting.

"He's got the gun up like this," McCarthy said, putting his cane over the back of his shoulders. "The guy's turning around and I hear the bam, bam, bam and then the guy drops."

McCarthy said McBean was walking away from the deputies.

Peraza's attorney maintains Peraza was trying to stop a potential threat and that he yelled commands at McBean to drop the weapon.

The McBean family maintains that McBean didn't hear the deputies because he was listening to music. In an email exchange with BSO in the months after the shooting McBean's brother wrote, "…we felt so sure he would have had his ear buds in his ears when the deputies came up behind him, and that he probably never heard whatever was said."

A BSO detective Efrain Torres responded, "The deputies who were on-scene when the shooting occurred confirmed that he did not have anything in his ear. The phone and ear piece were later found in his pocket at the hospital."

But the attorney for the McBean family, David Schoen, says a photo taken by a resident after the shooting shows the earbuds in McBean's ears.

In an interview with Peraza from the days after the shooting, Peraza told investigators that he never saw earbuds in McBean's ears on the day of the shooting. Years later, Peraza would tell grand jurors that he did not learn of the earbuds until a story appeared in a newspaper long after the shooting.

Also included in the documents revealed Tuesday is the autopsy report on McBean's death showing McBean was shot twice. The attorney for the McBean family believes the autopsy report shows that McBean was shot as he was turning around or when he was down on the ground.

The next big step in this case is a motion that Peraza's attorney filed claiming that Peraza's actions were covered under the stand your ground law. That motion will be heard in June.