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COURTESY PHOTO
Delmar Espejo was fatally shot by a deputy sheriff at the state Capitol on Feb. 18.
Honolulu police have reclassified the fatal shooting of a disabled man Feb. 18 at the state Capitol rotunda by a state deputy sheriff as a second-degree murder investigation, a police spokeswoman said today.
Police initially classified the death of Delmar Espejo, 28, as an unattended death.
The attorney for Espejo’s family said state Department of Public Safety Director Nolan Espinda contradicted the autopsy results at a news conference Feb. 19.
The autopsy results show Espejo was shot in the back at close range at a downward angle.
Espinda said the men were in an extreme struggle and that the deputy was placed in a headlock and shot Espejo in the upper torso.
Attorney Myles Breiner said that the autopsy results appear to support that Espejo was subdued.
Espinda had said that Espejo was drinking an alcoholic beverage and refused to dispose of the container.
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