Officers who killed Southaven man possibly responded to wrong house

SOUTHAVEN, MS (WMC) - A man was shot and killed by a Southaven police officer on Monday morning.

The police officers shared a very different version of events than the victim's widow, and the district attorney admits the officers may have been at the wrong house the entire time.

U.S. District Attorney John Champion said officers were responding to reports of a domestic assault in the area.

"There were no warrants out for his arrest and at this point, it's very possible that the officers were at the wrong address," Champion said.

The shooting happened just before midnight Sunday on Surrey Lane, several blocks from the intersection of Highway 51 and Nail Road.

Claudia Linares and her husband, Ismael Lopez, were asleep in their bed when they heard their dogs barking and saw police cars outside.

Linares said her husband opened the door and that's when police opened fire. She said she heard three shots before running outside to find her husband face down on the ground. She said her husband did not have a gun.

Officers, however, shared a different series of events with the district attorney.

Champion said he was told by officers that when Lopez opened the door, a dog ran at them. Officers said they shot at the dog and noticed a man in the doorway pointing a gun. The officers said they told the man multiple times to drop the gun, but when he didn't, one of the officers opened fire.

"The officers started hollering, 'Put the gun down, put the gun down, put the gun down,' at this point that did not occur," Champion said.

According to John Champion, two officers responded to the call and only one officer fired shots. The dog was not killed.

Investigators did recover a gun from the house, but they did not say where the gun was found or what type of gun it was.

The front yard of the home has a sign that reads, "Beware of the dog" and "Never mind the dog, beware of the owner."

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