Man accused of firing at 4 Miami-Dade officers admits he was the shooter – NBC 6 South Florida

A man accused of shooting at four Miami-Dade police officers and attempting to kill them in 2020 admitted in court Friday that he was the shooter.

However, Fenqwavious Yahtill Lopez said he didn’t know they were officers.

“Are you able to see inside the car?” attorney Jonathan E. Jordan asked.

“No sir,” Lopez responded.

“Are you able to notice if they are law enforcement undercover? Jordan asked.’

“No sir,” Lopez said.

NBC6’s Christian Colon is live from Miami where officers are taking the stand in the trial for a man accused of shooting at them.

Lopez said the southwest Miami-Dade neighborhood where this happened is dangerous and unsafe, so it was common for him to carry a gun around. When he noticed an unmarked pickup truck and sedan approach him from behind, he panicked.

“It’s a rough neighborhood. Crime. He came onto me with a gun,” Lopez said. “It was getting dark and I really thought he was going to kill me. I looked back and saw his gun. I panicked. I brandished my gun and I fired.”

State attorneys hope the jury doesn’t believe that story. Police said they yelled to make their presence known and had their red and blue lights on.

For the past week of trial, police officers have testified how they were in the area searching for a person of interest in a homicide case, not Lopez. Once they saw Lopez walking, they approached him and the situation escalated. Lopez fired first, according to testimonies.

“The purpose was to verify — if Mr. Lopez did not escalate, we would verify it’s not Mr. Flowers (the person of interest), and he would have been on his way,” Detective Jean Colimon said.

Police officers describe the situation as scary and tense.

“My door where I was sitting, the projectile went through the door, and to this day it’s by the grace of God I didn’t get shot,” Colimon said.

If convicted, Lopez could face up to life in prison.