District Attorney releases photos, 911 audio from officer-involved shooting

MORE: David Mendez Lopez was a 17 year old student at Howard High School who was at his family’s home the night of September 2.

After a call came in about a domestic dispute, the ensuing confrontation between Lopez and Chattanooga Police turned deadly as he was shot and killed early on September 3.

Today, we’re a getting a look at four different images as well as hearing parts of a 9-1-1 call who the D-A’s office says came from his girlfriend.

The initial exchange began with a four minute 9-1-1 call.

Over the call the situation escalates as David Lopez’s girlfriend states that he has a gun, has stolen her car, and begins banging on the door of the home on South Kelly Street where she was at.

Here are some excerpts from those calls:

“911 Operator: What’s going on?

Girl: My boyfriend is armed and he’s trying to get me.

(Heavy Breathing)

Girl: Please, quickly!

911 Operator: Where is he at now?

Girl: He broke into my car. He’s trying to take off in my car.”

Things continued to escalate as Lopez came back to the home.

“Girl: He’s back. He came back.

911 Operator: He came back?

Girl: He came back to the house.”

Other people present at the home start asking for help too.

“Man: We need help please!

(banging starts)

Girl: He’s banging on the door now.

911 Operator: We can hear him.”

The call ends a few seconds later.

There were four images released on Wednesday by her office.

They say the first three images come from the body camera of Chattanooga Police Officer Michael Morales at 11:39 p.m. that night.

In these images, someone, identified as Lopez by the D-A’s office, is seen standing in an adjacent doorway to Officer Morales.

In all three images, an object being held by Lopez is circled.

The D-A’s office says that it is a pistol with a laser.

In this image, the object Lopez is holding has a light emanating from it.

At this point in the confrontation, the D-A’s office says police had to call in a negotiator and over the following 45 minutes, they say they attempted to de-escalate the situation by getting Lopez to surrender.

During this time, the D-A’s office says Lopez called his uncle, and reportedly told him he wanted police to kill him.

In a fourth and final image taken at 12:26 a.m. from Chattanooga Police Officer Christian Burgeson’s body camera, a laser beam is circled coming from an upstairs window.

D-A Wamp says this beam comes from a pistol and was aimed at an officer watching the backyard of the house.

She describes that officers tried to get Lopez to surrender and that he refused, and then produced the gun.

That’s when officers responded with shots.

In a release two weeks ago through activist group Concerned Citizens for Justice, the family stated that Lopez had a cell phone in his hand and was suffering through a mental health crisis.

They had also stated that Lopez was killed in a laundry room, not in the back of the house.

The D-A’s office says quote, “Any assertion or statement that David Mendez was unarmed when he was shot by officers are categorically false.” 

We have reached out to the organization representing Lopez’s family for comment on today’s release, but have not heard back.

It is important to note that in both this case and in the Roger Heard Jr. police shooting, the only video that was released publicly was the Speedway gas station tower cam in the Heard case, and between both cases, we have only received four images from police body cams.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — It has been recently debated whether a teen, who police shot and killed earlier this month, was armed. Now, the Hamilton County District Attorney’s (DA) Office has released photos showing that the teen was actually armed.

The incident happened on Saturday, September 2 on South Kelly Street. A woman called 911, stating that her boyfriend was armed and going to harm her.

This resulted in a standoff between 17-year-old David Mendez Lopez and Chattanooga officers.

The DA’s office has also released new details into what led to the shooting.

They stated that Lopez’s girlfriend, Emily Gallegos, had called 911. In the 911 call, Gallegos told dispatchers that Lopez had a gun. She said he left in her car but then came back.

Lopez then started banging on the door and another man can be heard saying, “we need help, please!”

Body camera surveillance shows that Mendez had a gun at the time of the standoff. The DA’s office also said, “any assertion or statement that David Mendez was unarmed when he was shot by officers are categorically false.”

The body camera photos show Mendez holding a gun with a blue laser.

Authorities said officers brought in a Chattanooga Police Department negotiator as well.

According to the DA’s office, officers repeatedly told Mendez to put the gun down, and he refused.