LAKELAND ï¿½ For more than a week, details in the case of a Lakeland city commissioner who fatally shot an alleged shoplifter came mainly from police accounts. 
 
 Then, on Monday, Lakeland police released surveillance video that gives the public an up-close view of the shooting. Itï¿½s a crucial piece of evidence that investigators are using to decide whether City Commissioner Michael Dunn, 47, should face charges in the Oct. 3 killing of Christobal Lopez, 50. 
 
 Two attorneys who reviewed the video at the request of the Tampa Bay Times said it seems to contradict the idea that Dunn was in fear for his life when he fired. 
 
 "This is a very difficult case to defend," said Tim Hessinger, a Tampa criminal defense attorney and former state prosecutor. 
 
 Video from inside the Vets Army Navy Surplus store shows Dunn holding a gun in his right hand as Lopez tries to advance toward the door. Dunn pushes Lopez with his left arm, and Lopez goes for the door again. 
 
 Still pointing the gun at Lopez, Dunn tries to grab Lopezï¿½s shoulder from behind with his left hand as Lopez makes it out the door, the video shows. Dunnï¿½s hand slips off Lopezï¿½s shoulder but Dunn is able to grab a fistful of the manï¿½s t-shirt. Lopez raises his left arm in an apparent attempt to break free, and then Dunn appears to fire. 
 
 Lopez falls to the pavement just outside the door. He appears to shake for a moment, then lies still as Dunn keeps the gun trained on him. 
 
 At the moment Dunn fires, Lopez is holding the door with his right hand and appears to be holding an object in that same hand. Itï¿½s unclear if the object is the hatchet that Lopez is suspected of trying to steal when he was shot. 
 
 Dunnï¿½s attorney, Rusty Franklin, did not return a message Monday but has previously told reporters that Dunn was justified in shooting Lopez because he was holding the hatchet during the scuffle. 
 
 RELATED: Did Lakeland commissioner need to kill suspected shoplifter? Investigation under way 
 
 The video clip continues for about three minutes after the shooting. Lopez lies face down on the ground as Dunn walks in and out of the frame. No one is seen attempting to render first aid. 
 
 No charges have been filed in the case. A Lakeland Police Department spokesman said Monday that the agency and the State Attorneyï¿½s Office are still investigating. 
 
 Brian Haas, State Attorney for the 10th Judicial Circuit, said in a statement that he expects the investigation to conclude by the end of this week. 
 
 According to police, Lopez tried to pocket a hatchet inside the store. Dunn, a co-owner of the business, confronted him, asking if he was going to pay for the item. When Lakeland police officers arrived about 2:30 p.m., Lopez lay dead in the parking lot. 
 
 RELATE: ï¿½My brother didnï¿½t need to be killed like some animal,ï¿½ Lopezï¿½s sister says 
 
 Floridaï¿½s self defense law says a person can use deadly force "if he or she reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony." The controversial stand your ground law does not require people to retreat before using deadly force. 
 
 "Just from the video it doesnï¿½t look like Mr. Dunn was in fear and wasnï¿½t justified in shooting Mr. Lopez as he was leaving," said Bill Loughery, a former prosecutor with the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorneyï¿½s Office. "It appeared that, because he had his gun, Mr. Dunn was in charge of the situation from the standpoint he was directing Mr. Lopez what to do." 
 
 Hessinger, the Tampa defense attorney who is also is a former Pinellas-Pasco prosecutor, said it appears Lopez was trying to flee when he was shot and thereï¿½s no evidence in the video that he tried to use the hatchet as a weapon or gain control of Dunnï¿½s gun. 
 
 "It appears in the video that all the force is being used by the commissioner," Hessinger said. 
 
 Another former prosecutor-turned-defense attorney, Robert Heyman, said the case is a "tough call." 
 
 Florida law allows store employees to use reasonable force try to detain suspected shoplifters, Heyman noted. He said if the object in Lopezï¿½s hand is the hatchet, that would bolster any claim Dunn makes that he had to use deadly force to defend himself. 
 
 "Thereï¿½s an argument that as the doorï¿½s opening, the guy could have taken a swipe at the store owner with a hatchet in order to escape," Heyman said. 
 
 Police described Lopez as a transient. His most recent address was a small house in the rural community of Wauchula, in Hardee County. 
 
 A funeral notice states that he was born in Arcadia and had lived most of his life in Hardee County. He was a Catholic and worked as a laborer in agriculture. He spelled his first name "Christobal," the notice says, which is a different spelling than police initially provided. 
 
 Lopezï¿½s family was laying him to rest as local news outlets were reporting the release of the video. His funeral service was Monday morning in Wauchula and he was buried in Zolfo Springs. 
 
 Dunn, an adamant supporter of gun ownership, hosted a July rally at his store to counter a nearby March for our Lives rally on the same day. March for our Lives is an advocacy group formed by Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students seeking stricter gun-control laws. 
 
 The shooting is the second time Dunn has shot a person. But itï¿½s the first time the shooting was fatal. The Lakeland Ledger reported that Dunn accidentally shot a man when he was 19. 
 
 Contact Tony Marrero at [email protected] or (813) 226-3374. Follow @tmarrerotimes. 

 The authorities released surveillance video on Monday that showed the moment when a city commissioner in Lakeland, Fla., fatally shot a man who he believed had just stolen a hatchet from his store. 
 
 The Lakeland Police Department and the State Attorney’s Office for the 10th Judicial Circuit are investigating the Oct. 3 shooting and expect to be finished by the end of the week. No charges have been filed against Michael Dunn, a city commissioner in Lakeland, which is about 35 miles east of Tampa. He took office in January. 
 
 The Lakeland Police Department, which responded to the shooting, released the video after it received several inquiries. 
 
 “We just felt that keeping it secret any longer did not benefit the investigation,” Jacob Orr, an assistant state’s attorney, said of the release of the video in an interview on Monday. 

 Surveillance video released by Lakeland Police Department shows the violent ending when shoplifter Christobal Lopez was fatally shot by Lakeland City Commissioner Michael Dunn. 
 
 LAKELAND — Cameras were operating in the Army Navy Surplus store in North Lakeland to protect the business. 
 
 One of those surveillance cameras could prove to be a serious legal test for City Commissioner Michael Dunn. 
 
 Lakeland police Monday released video of Dunn shooting a 50-year-old man in the side as the man attempted to leave Dunn's store. 
 
 The video, taken from the Vets Army Navy Surplus Store at 819 N. Florida Ave., shows Christobal Lopez trying to break away from Dunn's grasp as Lopez opens the door to leave the building. 
 
 In the final moments of the Oct. 3 confrontation, Lopez is holding what appears to be a hatchet police said was stolen from the store and Dunn seemingly trying to block the man's exit. 
 
 Dunn, pointing a handgun at Lopez, grabs his shirt and tries to pull him back into the store. When Lopez breaks free, Dunn fires into Lopez's side. 
 
 District 10 Medical Examiner Dr. Stephen Nelson has said Lopez died from two gunshot wounds. 
 
 After the shots were fired, Dunn can be seen holding the door of the business open as Lopez's body twitches, positioned face down on the concrete pavement at the entrance. Dunn continues to point the gun, a Glock, at Lopez's body as he holds the door open for about 15 seconds before walking outside. He stays outside for most of the remaining three minutes left on the video as Lopez lies motionless on the ground. At one point, Dunn peers back inside the store. 
 
 Police released four videos from that afternoon showing different angles inside the store. In the first video, Lopez can be seen putting what appears to be the hatchet into the front of his pants. Dunn sees Lopez put the hatchet into his pants, stands up from his office chair and places a handgun into the back of his waistband. Lopez and his father were shopping for hats before the shooting occurred, Dunn's attorney, Rusty Franklin has said previously. 
 
 Lakeland Police Department spokesman Gary Gross said no charges have been filed in the case. He directed any inquiries to the State Attorney's Office. 
 
 State Attorney Brian Haas said he expects the investigation to be finished by the end of the week. Haas declined to discuss details of the investigation, including why the video was released Monday. 
 
 Franklin also declined comment. He said they were cooperating with investigators on the case. Dunn, who did not return a phone message, was not present for a city commission meeting Monday. 
 
 Previously, Franklin declined to discuss defense strategies during a press conference he held the day after the shooting, including whether Dunn would claim it was a "stand your ground" incident. 
 
 The Florida law allows people to use deadly force if they face "imminent death or great bodily harm." 
 
 Another portion of state statute says a person "has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground'' if he or she thinks deadly force is necessary to prevent death, great bodily harm or commission of a forcible felony like robbery. 
 
 Bartow defense lawyer John Liguori said the surveillance video shows that Dunn has a case for self-defense during a robbery. 
 
 "I'm not so sure this is a stand your ground case, but I do think he has a strong self-defense argument," Liguori said. "If he thought his use of deadly force was reasonable and necessary to prevent great bodily harm to himself then the law shields him." 
 
 Liguori said two to four seconds of the video will make a difference in the case. When Dunn reaches and grabs Lopez's shirt, Lopez spins on him, Liguori said. 
 
 "If Lopez tried to brush away the gun with his hand he may have invited deadly force," Liguori said. 
 
 Liguori said Haas may choose to present the case to a grand jury to allow them to decide whether Dunn will be charged. He predicted manslaughter would be the most serious charge Dunn would face. A spokesman with the State Attorney's Office declined comment when asked whether a grand jury planned to hear the case. 
 
 Dunn has been a city commissioner since January. 
 
 Dunn could be suspended from office by the governor if he is arrested for a felony or misdemeanor, according to state statute. Commissioners could decide to vote Dunn off the commission if he is convicted of a felony, said Kevin Cook, a spokesman with the city. 
 
 Since there are more than six months remaining in Dunn's term, the commission would fill the vacancy on an interim basis by a majority vote and schedule a special election to be held within 60 to 90 days after he was removed. 
 
 Lopez lived most of his life in Hardee County, according to an obituary. He worked as a laborer in agriculture. 
 
 In addition to his father, the obituary states he had three brothers and four sisters. 
 
 He was buried Monday at Friendship Cemetery in Zolfo Springs. 
 
 John Chambliss can be contacted at john.chambliss@theledger.com or 863-802-7588. 

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– The tapes are out from Florida police, and now the world can see more of the story behind the fatal shooting of Christobal Lopez. The 50-year-old was killed Oct. 3 in a Vets Army Navy Surplus Store in Lakeland while there with his father—both transients, police say, per the New York Times—and the person who shot him with a Glock handgun, store co-owner and City Commissioner Michael Dunn, is relying on the state's "stand your ground" law in explaining why he shot Lopez. Dunn's attorney has claimed Lopez was trying to shoplift a hatchet, and when Dunn, 47, confronted Lopez, who was said to still be holding the hatchet, Dunn feared he'd be hurt or even killed, per the Tampa Bay Times. But surveillance video of the shooting released by authorities on Monday is making it more of a "tough call," an attorney not involved with the case says. "It appears in the video that all the force is being used by the commissioner," another defense attorney adds. In one clip (shown here, but be warned: It's graphic), Dunn can be seen grabbing the shirt sleeve on Lopez's left arm as Lopez tries to leave the store, and Lopez's arm lifts up during an apparent attempt to break free. That's when Dunn fires. No one is seen attempting to give Lopez first aid in the video, which goes on for about three more minutes in a longer, police-released version. Although the video has caused some legal experts to wonder if the shooting was justified, another tells the Ledger that at the very least Dunn may be able to argue self-defense. "If Lopez tried to brush away the gun with his hand, he may have invited deadly force," a defense lawyer says. No charges have yet been filed. (A "justifiable" shooting by an Uber driver.)