In an update on the shooting at the WWE Performance Center earlier today, The Orange County Sheriff’s Department in Orlando, Florida held a media conference to address the incident. Sheriff Demmings stated that they received a call at 1:30 PM from the WWE about a 29-year-old Hispanic male who had been showing up continuously over the last month or so, as he had been fixated on a female WWE performer and that WWE do have a police presence at the facility, but did not have so today and that the male in question was arrested most recently on August 24th.

Sheriff Demmings said that WWE informed the police that the individual in question was back at the facility today causing problems yet again, was acting deranged and was observed to be holding what appeared to be a knife when two plain-clothes detectives responded. Demmings noted that the individual in question charged one of the detectives, Officer Steve Wahl and assaulted him after being given instructions to stop and that the deputy backed up 75-100 feet, however the suspect followed and when he did not follow instructions to stop, he was shot once and that it all happened very quickly and that the two plain-clothes detectives took the action they thought was appropriate because it was believed that a knife was involved and that the incident took place in the parking lot outside of the WWE Performance Center.

Demmings said that the individual in question is currently in surgery with life-threatening injuries and is not being identified right now due to his family not yet being notified of the incident and his official medical status is critical but stable. The police are still processing the crime scene, so they can’t comment on whether they have found a weapon and the WWE personality in question that the suspect had a fixation with was not on-site today, but it is not unusual for well-known WWE personalities to visit, however on those days, WWE increase the security. It was noted that WWE and the local authorities have been in conversations about the company hiring to have deputies on site at all times and that the deputies that approached the individual in question today were aware of him and had deal with him before and that the said individual has a criminal record involving violence and robbery.

The Sheriff said that he had reviewed some of the video footage from the facility and that the deputy had tried to keep his distance, but the suspect closed in on him, which led to the shot being fired and that the suspect was not involved with the WWE and had no relationship with anyone who trains at the WWE Performance Center. It was noted that the WWE had done what they needed to make sure their staff was protected and that the company had reached out to have a relationship with the Sheriff’s department to make them familiar with the location and what was ongoing at the facility and that this was the third involvement that authorities have had with the suspect and that WWE had taken out an injunction to prevent the individual from coming onto their property, however he had not been served with it at the time of the incident. The Sheriff was asked if there was anything that could have been done to prevent the incident and noted that when a human element is involved and someone has that sort of fixation, then you can’t predict what will happen.