LOUISVILLE, Ky. — WARNING: This story contains details that some readers may find too disturbing. Viewer discretion is strongly advised.
New details, including bodycam video, have been released about a police shooting in Louisville’s Wilder Park neighborhood earlier this month.
On May 14, Louisville Metro Police (LMPD) detectives were conducting surveillance on 17-year-old Brandon Marroquin, who had been identified as a suspect in 18-year-old David Martinez’s death just days earlier. Martinez was found shot multiple times near railroad tracks in the Beechmont neighborhood.
“That’s why the Criminal Extradition Division detectives were out there conducting surveillance on him,” LMPD Deputy Chief Steve Healey said on Friday.
Newly released bodycam video shows LMPD officers approaching Marroquin as he exits a corner store near West Kenton Street. He immediately begins running from the officers.
An officer yells for Marroquin to drop a firearm, which can later be seen as another officer tackles the suspect to the ground.
Several officers then held the teen down and attempted to get the gun out of his hand. Marroquin struggles to speak, sounding muffled, so it's unclear what he said.
One of the officers said the barrel of the gun was pointed at a nearby residence.
LMPD K-9 units respond to the scene and police warn Marroquin to let go of the gun or, “this dog is going to rip your f******* skin off.” Another officer calls out, “I have [the gun’s] slide.”
The suspect’s gun can then be heard discharging a single bullet.
Within seconds, Det. Benjamin Derby, who LMPD leaders said was providing cover fire, shot the teen once in the head. Marroquin died several days later in the hospital.
No one in the nearby area, including the officers, was injured.
“Had these officers relinquished control of the suspect, there was a very good likelihood there could have been injuries to officers or citizens on this busy street by the suspect discharging his firearm as he had clearly established, he had no regard for human life,” Healey said.
Healey said the residence and K-9 officers were in the suspect's line of fire when it was discharged.
An LMPD spokesperson later told WHAS11 that “even if an officer had the slide under complete control, the weapon is still capable of firing the round in the chamber.”
Healey said a forensic exam of the suspect’s firearm, after the shooting, connected Marroquin to Martinez’s death on May 11.
When questioned why non-lethal force options weren’t used, Healey said he doesn’t know if a taser would have been effective in this incident.
“When that taser is deployed, you want to have it spread,” he explained. “As you can see how many officers are on the ground with him… we’re dealing with an individual with a gun that is refusing to put it down, he’s a homicide suspect, would it have been effective?”
Authorities have identified Marroquin as a Hispanic male.
It’s unclear if a language barrier caused him not to follow officers’ commands, but Healey said it would be further determined in the investigation.
Derby has been placed on administration leave while LMPD's Public Integrity Unit investigates.
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