TITUSVILLE, Fla. – A Titusville woman said she spent her Mother’s Day at her son’s grave site, still looking for closure on how he died.
Her 25-year-old son, Tri-Marea Charles, was shot and killed by Titusville Police on Feb. 7. On Tuesday night, she pleaded to the city council for more answers in the ongoing investigation.
“I still do not have closure for what happened to my son. I am still hearing rumors every day, it’s just a tragedy, I am just over it,” Samantha Charles said. “I am about to break.”
She asked the council for help in being able to watch the police body-worn camera video from the incident.
City leaders responded by passing a motion which puts in a request by the city to Titusville police Chief John Lau and the State Attorney’s Office to allow Samantha Charles to view the footage.
“I feel very strongly that even if we can’t get it released, I think the city council needs to take a stand and we need to say, ‘I understand the situation.’ I understand it had to go to FDLE, I understand it had to go to the State Attorney’s Office, but it had really been an inordinate amount of time involved in getting the answers back,” Titusville Vice Mayor Herman Cole said.
Police have shared limited information on the Feb. 7 shooting — writing a news release which states the agency initially was responding to a suspicious incident investigation off Robins Avenue.
Titusville police Chief John Lau then met with residents on Feb. 13 at an NAACP meeting to address questions from the community on the incident.
He said officers encountered Charles after he ran out the front door and dropped a gun. He then claimed there was some type of altercation between the officers and Charles.
“Mr. Charles re-armed himself with the gun that had fallen, and that’s when shots were fired,” Lau said on Feb. 13.
Charles was shot by police and taken to a hospital where he was soon pronounced dead, News 6 confirmed. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is now investigating the shooting, police said.
Advocate Christina Michelle has previously argued that Charles was shot 15 times in the back.
“How many bullets does it take to stop a threat? One, two, three — 15? Tri-Marea Charles was shot 15 times in the back, killed with over 60 shell castings left by a police department with more than 30 unsolved murders,” Michelle said.
News 6 requested clarification from FDLE of whether Charles was shot 15 times in the back. The following response was given:
“Our investigation remains active,” an unnamed spokesperson for FDLE said in an email.
News 6 also put in a public records request to FDLE for the body-cam footage, 911 audio and incident report from the shooting. On March 26, the request was closed due to it being an active investigation.
Meanwhile on Monday, Titusville police said in a prepared statement that FDLE was in the final stages of the investigation, as well as that it was being reviewed by the State Attorney’s Office.
However, on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the SAO told News 6 it has not yet received the report from FDLE or the body camera video, but it anticipates receiving it soon.
“For now, the State Attorney’s Office cannot comment on the video or next steps in the process,” a spokesperson for the SAO said in a prepared statement.