A Winter Park man in a vehicle reported stolen out of Jacksonville fired shots at Orlando Police Department officers sitting in an unmarked car.
During a press conference this morning, Orlando Police Chief Orlando Rolón provided an update regarding the shooting, which took place on Wednesday evening in the 4500 Block of Jim Glenn Drive.
According to Rolón, 36-year-old William Deleon Bullock of Winter Park is facing nearly a dozen charges including two counts of attempted murder on a law enforcement officer after he allegedly fired shots on two officers who were waiting for backup in an unmarked vehicle.
Authorities say the OPD Crime Center detected a car reported stolen out of Jacksonville and relayed that information to officers on Wednesday.
The stolen vehicle was eventually spotted being driven by Bullock by two officers in an unmarked vehicle.
According to Rolón, the unmarked vehicle followed Bullock for around 10 minutes before they began “providing surveillance” and waiting for backup. At that point, Bullock allegedly drove by the unmarked vehicle and opened fire on the occupants.
One of the officers in the vehicle returned fire during the incident.
Rolón says that although the department will release additional photos and video of the incident, including bodyworn camera footage, he “personally believes” the act was intentional and malicious.
“Whether he thought they were law enforcement or not, he tried to kill those two individuals in that car,” said Rolón. He stressed that although neither officer was injured in the case, the shooting was “unprovoked” and could have been worse, citing a drum-magazine with multiple rounds found in the stolen car.
“It was an unmarked vehicle, the officers were still waiting for additional resources to arrive to do a proper takedown of the stolen car and the individual never gave them a chance.”
Rolón commented that although shootings across the city are down, the amount of casings, or ammunition shells, being found at crime scenes is higher than it was last year. He suggested that these drums are allowing shooters to “spray their targets.”
The incident comes just one week after a similar shooting in which an individual who was being pulled over for a traffic stop fired shots at Orlando Police officers on Mercy Drive.