Family of man mistakenly killed by deputies files suit

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — The family of a man mistakenly killed by a Lake County sheriff's deputy has hired a well-known local attorney.

The attorney for Andrew Lee Scott's family, Mark Nejame, announced a civil lawsuit against the sheriff's office on Monday

Nejame also showed reporters the apartment where Scott was shot at 1:30 a.m. on July 15.

The walls in Scott's Leesburg apartment are full of bullet holes.

"This action, this arrogant action by law enforcement, by the sheriff of Lake County will cost the taxpayers of Lake County millions of dollars because the law was not followed," said Nejame.

Nejame re-created the night the victim was shot to death by a Lake County sheriff's deputy. The demonstration included a poster board of the angle of the bullets through the door and a neighbor who heard it happen.

"I only heard five. When they opened fire, it was 'Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!' They just kept shooting," said neighbor Debra Brown.

Nejame said when Scott heard somebody pounding on his door at early in the morning he had every right to answer it with a gun in his hand.

The Sheriff's Office acknowledged that deputies did not announce themselves, and they confronted the wrong man at the wrong apartment.

They were actually after Scott's neighbor Jonathon Brown in connection with an attempted murder charge.

Nejame insists not identifying themselves as law enforcement officers flies in the face of both state and U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting.

The Sheriff's Office said it is waiting for the results of that probe.

WFTV