Interview tapes released in 2013 fatal shooting of Jermaine McBean

Deputy Peter Peraza shot man carrying air rifle

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. ā€“ Interview tapes have been released in the controversial and fatal deputy-involved shooting of Jermaine McBean.

Local 10 News heard the deputy's account of what happened.

"Yes, the dispatcher stated that there was a black male with a white T-shirt (and) blue jeans walking north on the west side (of) northbound Dixie Highway with a rifle in his hand," Deputy Peter Peraza said in a taped interview.

Dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, Peraza answered questions from Broward Sheriff's Office investigators in a recorded statement Local 10 obtained Wednesday from the Broward County state attorneyā€™s office. He said several 911 calls had come in about a man carrying what looked like a gun near the Oakland Park apartment complex in July 2013.

"What was it that you saw when you arrived in the area?" a detective asked Peraza.

"He did have a rifle in his hand," Peraza said. "It looked like he was kind of walking with it. Um, I can describe that it looked like the shotgun that I carry in my vehicle, but the barrel was thinner and the stock was green camouflage."

The man carrying the gun was McBean, 33, a computer systems engineer who lived at the complex. The gun was an unloaded air rifle he had just purchased.

"Did he acknowledge you?" a detective asked Peraza. "Did he see you? Did he do anything when he saw you?"

"Um, I believe he saw my vehicle because he -- it appeared that when I made a U-turn in the street that he was walking north a little faster and he had transitioned his weapon across his shoulders," Peraza said.

Peraza has said McBean ignored orders to drop the weapon, forcing him to shoot.

McBeanā€™s family points to earbuds seen in a photo after the shooting, and they claim he never heard the officer's commands.

"Was there any noise in the area that you think would have precluded him from hearing the loud commands that you were giving?" a detective asked Peraza.

"No," Peraza said.

"There was no construction going on? There was nothing in his ears to show that he couldn't have heard anything you said?" Peraza was asked.

"No," Peraza answered.Ā