No charges filed against Melbourne police officer, Florida Tech security guard who fatally shot student
BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. Aug 25 2022– The state attorney’s office for Brevard County announced on Tuesday it is not filing charges against a Melbourne police officer and Florida Tech security guard who fatally shot at a student after he lunged at an officer with a pair of scissors in December.
According to a police report, Alhaji Sow, 18, was shot and killed after running around the Florida Institute of Technology campus with a knife and ultimately, lunging at officers with a pair of scissors.
The state attorney’s office said “evidence and testimony provided by the FDLE held sufficient evidence to believe that the officers were acting in self-defense, a legal justification for the use of deadly force.”
Melbourne police said everything started when Sow got into a fight with a friend. He then ran around campus with a knife while punching students, vandalized cars and broke a residence hall window, police said.
At one point, Sow dropped the knife and when authorities found him in a dorm, police said he was holding a pair of scissors. Police said he then lunged at an officer and struck the officer in the leg. Melbourne police said one officer and a campus security officer shot at Sow, killing him.
According to the state attorney’s office, “witness testimony indicates that Mr. Sow ingested multiple doses of LSD, a powerful hallucinogenic drug, prior to the series of campus attacks on other students. Mr. Sow’s roommate told investigators that he witnessed Mr. Sow ‘tripping’ on psychedelic drugs at least once a week prior to this event.”
