FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Attorneys in the "stand your ground" hearing of a suspended Broward Sheriff's Office deputy who fatally shot a man carrying an air rifle left the courtroom Tuesday to tour the Oakland Park apartment complex where the shooting occurred.
Deputy Peter Peraza claims he shot and killed Jermaine McBean in self-defense when he saw him walking with an air rifle at the Green Tree Apartments.
Broward County Judge Michael Usan got a chance to see for himself where McBean, 33, was killed in July 2013.
Peraza claims that McBean's hands were draped over the rifle and that McBean pointed the gun toward him and his fellow deputies.
McBean's family refutes that claim and said he couldn't hear the deputy's commands to drop his weapon because he was wearing earbuds.
After visiting the complex, attorneys returned to the courtroom to give their closing arguments.
"We believe from the beginning that this was nothing more than a deputy who's responding to a call with a man walking -- marching -- down our streets with a rifle, and he turned and he pointed it toward the deputy," defense attorney Eric Schwartzreich told Local 10 News.
Schwartzreich said he is "hopeful and confident" that the case will be dismissed.
Usan is expected to make a written ruling on his decision, which could come by the end of the week.