It might be several months before the autopsy results of Khamis Shatara, the 21-year-old shot and killed by his off-duty PBSO deputy father on Christmas Eve, are released to the public. That's because the death is being investigated as an "officer-involved shooting" even though the elder Shatara was at home and off-duty when he pulled the trigger.
The Palm Beach County Medical Examiner's office told New Times the status of the case when we attempted to get a copy of the autopsy results, which are considered public records.
"It's an officer-involved shooting, and the case is still under investigation," the records clerk said, adding that it might be before April the records are releasable, after having gone through the District Attorney's Office, which is the norm for all shootings involving on-duty police officers.
However, this shooting was a domestic dispute, according to the Delray Beach Police Department, which is investigating the killing because it happened in their jurisdiction.
See also: Delray Beach Police Remove All Facebook Posts About PBSO Deputy Who Killed Son
We reached out to the Delray Beach PD for comment about why the investigation is being handled as an officer-involved shooting instead of a civilian investigation, but both the department's spokesperson and legal adviser refused to comment.
We'll update if they change their minds.
But more than one month after the shooting, hardly any information about the shooting has been released by the Delray Beach PD. Deputy Shatara was briefly detained after the shooting occurred but was released and placed on paid administrative leave -- standard procedure for on-duty officers involved in shootings.
See also: Shatara K. Shatara, Off-Duty PBSO Deputy Who Shot Son, Faced Several Off-Duty Complaints
Khamis Shatara was a student at Palm Beach State College with designs on becoming a police officer.
He was laid to rest two days after getting killed.
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