FDLE to investigate after police shoot, kill wedding guest in Winter Park

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating after a police officer shot and killed a man at Winter Park’s new library and events center.

Around 9:45 p.m. Saturday, police started getting 911 calls from partygoers about someone starting fights inside a wedding party.

Winter Park police said Daniel Patrick Knight, 39, was celebrating his niece’s wedding at the Winter Park Events Center.

“It appeared he was going up to several people inside the party where he was battering people. It started inside the events center and ended up outside,” police said.

Investigators said when the first officer approached Knight, “there was a physical altercation that our officer was unconscious and incapacitated.”

Then backup arrived. According to police, the second officer tried to calm Knight down but it didn’t work.

“There was a second physical altercation with the officer, and then there was a shooting,” police told Channel 9.

Knight was taken to a hospital, where he died.

The officer involved in the shooting is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is working to determine if this shooting was justified.

Knight’s family admits that he was drinking Saturday night, but they said Knight didn’t deserve to die.

They said police should have used a nonlethal method to subdue him.

The family has hired a lawyer to fight the case.

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