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Video shows Florida city commissioner shooting accused shoplifter dead

The seven-minute video from inside the Vet Army Navy Surplus store Oct. 3 shows Christobal Lopez, 50, attempting to exit the store with an object in his right hand as Michael Dunn confronts him with a gun.
Credit: LAKELAND POLICE DEPARTMENT
Lakeland Police Department released video of city commissioner Michael Dunn fatally shooting an alleged shoplifter in his store Oct. 3

Authorities in Lakeland, Florida, released surveillance footage Monday showing a city commissioner fatally shooting an alleged shoplifter earlier this month outside a military supply store he co-owns. Michael Dunn, who took office in January, fired a gun after seeing a customer taking a hatchet and trying to leave without paying, the Lakeland Police Department said.

The seven-minute video from inside the Vet Army Navy Surplus store Oct. 3 shows Christobal Lopez, 50, attempting to exit the store with an object in his right hand as Dunn confronts him with a gun. Dunn grabs him by the shirt before apparently firing the weapon and striking Lopez, who was later pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said Lopez hid the hatchet while his father was making a purchase –– and Dunn asked Lopez if he was going to pay for it before the encounter escalated. Lopez still had the hatchet when he was shot, according to authorities, but it's unclear if he was holding the weapon or it was hidden in his pants. Surveillance video doesn't clearly show what he took.

Read more on cbsnews.com.

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