By Michal Higdon and Patrick Phillips
Published: Jun. 21, 2024 at 3:23 PM EDT|Updated: Jun. 21, 2024 at 4:16 PM EDT
BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has released additional footage of a fight outside a Summerville restaurant that ended in a deadly shooting.
SLED released the footage Friday in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
The footage, recorded by witnesses, shows the March 20 confrontation between former Summerville Police officer Anthony DeLustro, 64, and 39-year-old Michael O’Neal.
SLED released a total of 10 videos on Friday. Most of the footage was recorded in the parking lot of the Chick-fil-A where the actual fight took place. Some pieces included restaurant surveillance footage.
Berkeley County Coroner Darnell Hartwell said O’Neal died from a gunshot wound to the right arm that traveled to the chest. DeLustro has been charged with murder in the shooting. Summerville Police Lt. Shaun Tumbeston confirmed DeLustro had been terminated by the agency when SLED filed the charge.
Warrant details fatal encounter outside Chick-fil-A
The arrest warrant states DeLustro was off-duty when he engaged in what investigators called an altercation with O’Neal at the restaurant on North Main Street. The warrant does not detail what led to the altercation between DeLustro and O’Neal. But it does include details from eyewitness accounts of the fight.
Witnesses told investigators that DeLustro was “the primary aggressor,” the warrant states. After the two men exited their vehicles, a witness said Dulustro asked, “Do you want to do this?” several times and then used a slur against O’Neal.
The two exchanged punches and kicks and bystanders attempted to separate them, the witness said.
Investigators say that at some point during the scuffle, DeLustro told O’Neal he was under arrest and briefly showed his Summerville Police credentials before they fell to the ground during the scuffle. During the fight, DeLustro’s Springfield Armory XD handgun fell from his holster onto the pavement behind his white Ford Edge, court documents state.
As the fight continued, the victim attempted to leave and returned to his vehicle, a Hyundai Genesis.
A witness who was attempting to restrain DeLustro said he heard DeLustro tell O’Neal he would shoot O’Neal if he left. DeLustro broke free from the bystander, ran to the rear of his vehicle and picked up the firearm and approached O’Neal’s car, the warrant states.
DeLustro’s wife attempted to “physically restrain the victim during the altercation and later when the victim attempted to get in his vehicle to leave,” the warrant states.
DeLustro opened O’Neal’s passenger door and entered the vehicle, prompting O’Neal to shout, “get out of my car,” investigators said. As O’Neal began to drive away, DeLustro, “while still partially seated in the passenger seat of the victim’s vehicle, fired a single shot from his handgun,” the warrant states.
DeLustro acknowledged he knew the victim was attempting to leave the area and that it was his intent to stop him, also acknowledging that he “never saw the victim with a firearm or any other weapon and that the victim never threatened the use of any sort of weapon,” the warrant states.
Investigators say eyewitness accounts, video evidence and DeLustro’s statement to law enforcement show that O’Neal retreated from the fight before DeLustro confronted him with the firearm.
“A reasonable person could not have reasonably believed that the victim posed a threat of imminent danger or death or serious bodily injury to others because the victim was unarmed, walked away from the altercation and attempted to leave in his vehicle,” the warrant states.
The document also states eyewitness accounts video evidence and DeLustro’s statement to law enforcement show DeLustro “recklessly put himself in danger when he entered the victim’s vehicle armed with a handgun.” It further states that while DeLustro’s claims “do not meet the elements of self-defense,” evidence shows O’Neal did have a right to act in self-defense.
DeLustro told investigators he used deadly force as the victim drove away because the victim refused to stop his vehicle and DeLustro believed he could not get his legs out from beneath the moving vehicle. But the warrant states eyewitness accounts and video evidence do not corroborate the claims that DeLustro made after the incident that he “was in fear for the community’s safety and for his wife’s safety.”
DeLustro was injured during the incident and taken to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. He was placed on administrative leave following the shooting.
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