Carlsbad Caverns National Park Ranger Robert Mitchell is now under investigation after he fatally shot an unarmed man through the heart and then handcuffed his lifeless body during a traffic stop.
According to KOB-TV, Charles “Gage” Lorentz was traveling from his worksite in Pecos, Texas, to his home in southwest Colorado to meet up with his family. During the drive, Lorentz took a detour to meet at the national park with a friend, that’s when he was encountered by Mitchell.
According to the report, Lorentz was pulled over for speeding on a dirt road near the park’s Rattlesnake Springs area.
Mitchell’s lapel video shows him ordering Lorentz to spread his feet and move closer to a railing.
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Lorentz complies with the order, but then he decides to briefly dance to music coming from a nearby vehicle. That’s when Mitchell pulls out his taser gun and asks Lorentz to turn around.
“Oh, come on, get real with it,” Lorentz said, appearing to ask Mitchell to draw his handgun instead. “Other one.”
That’s when the park ranger decides to tase Lorentz.
But this is where it gets suspicious. The video suddenly cuts off and doesn’t resume for another 26 seconds. At that point, Mitchell is on top of Lorentz where he decides to shoot him twice.
“That’s when I shot him with a Taser, it did nothing,” Mitchell tells an Eddy County sheriff’s deputy later, which was also caught on video. “I went dry stun, he hit me somewhere right here on the side of my head. The fight was on, he grabbed me around the neck, he tried to push my head into the push bar, and I came up and fired one round. I don’t know if I got him or not, but I definitely got him on the second one and he crumpled.”
According to the autopsy report, the first bullet hit Lorentz in his thigh, But the second bullet was fatal as it hit him in the heart.
Three minutes after the shooting, Mitchell put handcuffs on Lorentz’s motionless body and declared him “under arrest,” and eight minutes after the shooting removes the first aid kit from his vehicle — but doesn’t actually render aid until 12 minutes after the shooting.
Lorentz was unarmed, and a toxicology report showed no alcohol or drugs in his system.
According to the National Park Service and Dianna Luce, the 5th Judicial District Attorney, Mitchell is under investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Lorentz’s family plans to file a lawsuit against the United States Interior Department and National Park Service
“Let’s start with the fact that this man takes a Taser and shoots Gage with no provocation from Gage whatsoever,” said attorney Shannon Kennedy. “There is no communication, there is no de-escalation. That park ranger is insane, he’s out of his mind. What is he arresting him for? Driving too fast down a country road, and he takes his life over that? It’s a citation, it’s a warning. It’s not a death sentence.”
You can see the moment of the shooting below. Warning, the video is graphic.
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