By Angie DiMichele
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A West Palm Beach Police officer accidentally shot another officer while responding to a 911 call that ended up with a shootout between them and a suspect, a police department review has found.
Officer Cristian Caraballo and a second officer identified in a probable cause affidavit only as Officer Ballard arrived at a home in the 300 block of Baker Drive about 2 a.m. Oct. 7 after a woman called about two men — one armed — fighting inside the home.
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Caraballo took out his rifle as he approached the home, with Ballard following behind him, and shouted for anyone outside to show themselves, according to the affidavit. Emmanuel Keevon Dashan McRae, 22, one of the men who had been fighting, then shot toward the officers at least 10 times, the affidavit said.
Ballard and Caraballo both then shot back toward McRae, according to the affidavit. A total of 22 gunshots in two separate rounds were recorded by the gunshot-detection technology ShotSpotter, the affidavit said.
Moments later, Caraballo told Ballard and dispatchers that he was shot and could feel he was bleeding, the affidavit said. He was shot in the lower back area of his ballistic vest.
McRae ran away from the scene but turned himself in later the same night.
A day after the shooting, the police department in a statement said it was “premature” to determine who shot the officer. The vest was examined and the bullet was submitted to a crime lab for analysis.
Rachel Leitao, a spokesperson for the police department, said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that the forensic review determined Caraballo was unintentionally shot by an officer. The statement did not identify the officer who shot him, provide the officer’s current status or say whether an internal investigation is underway.
“Instances of friendly fire can occur during rapidly evolving and high-intensity situations,” the statement said. “These findings do not change the fact that Emmanuel McRae fired upon our officers.”
The two charges McRae is facing, attempted first-degree murder with a firearm of a law enforcement officer, have not changed, court records show.
Caraballo was taken to a hospital after the shooting and had been released later the same day, the police department previously said.
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