Security cameras broken night woman was shot by officer

ORLANDO, Fla. — Channel 9 found out security cameras to help fight crime in downtown Orlando haven’t been working for weeks and some of the affected cameras would have captured Tuesday’s officer involved shooting, where a stray bullet killed a woman.

Cory Reynolds manages a restaurant downtown near where Maria Godinez was shot and killed.

He was frustrated to find out the cameras weren’t working.

“It’s a false sense of security,” Reynolds said. “As a taxpayer you’d be upset to know your money is going to something that’s supposed to be a deterrent that’s not working properly.”

The cameras mounted above Pine and Church streets were in black when the officer opened fire on a suspect and a stray bullet struck Godinez, who was inside Vixen nightclub.

Orlando Police Chief John Mina said he doesn’t believe the investigation will be altered without the camera footage.

He could not say how many of the 150 anti-crime cameras aren’t working.

“We’re working with local construction companies. There were several fiber optic cables cut, so it’s a process,” Mina said.

Police said there was damage to an underground fiber line that affected five of the 73 cameras. Police reported the problem to Transportation Engineering and the compant is expected to fix the issue.

According to police, city staff has been working on a solution and they want to solve the problem over the weekend, which will involve excavating part of the sidewalk.

Reynolds said he hopes the fix happens very soon.

“I’d hope it would be watched 24 hours and work properly,” he said.

This summer, there was one fatal shooting and another fatal stabbing in the downtown area.

Mina said the city received more money this week to buy and install additional surveillance cameras across the city.

WFTV