Melissa Montoya

The (Fort Myers, Fla.) News-Press

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The police officer who killed a 73-year-old woman during a special presentation by the Punta Gorda Police Department on Tuesday night was asked to resign from a Southeast Florida department before being hired two years ago in Charlotte County.

Lee Coel fired at Mary Knowlton during a "shoot/don't shoot" scenario, killing the retired Minnesota librarian in front of 35 people at a Punta Gorda Chamber Police Night event. The revolver was supposed to be loaded with blanks.

Coel, 28, left the Miramar Police Department after 14 months in the Broward County municipality. According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, he left the agency in April of 2013 for failing to satisfactorily complete an agency field training program. He was hired at the Punta Gorda Police Department in March 2014.

Woman fatally shot in a role-playing event at Florida police department

Tania Rues, Miramar police spokeswoman, said Coel resigned but could not comment why.

Attempts to reach Coel or Coel's family were unsuccessful Wednesday.

In a resignation letter dated April 16, 2013, Coel said he was resigning for personal reasons from the position of certified law enforcement officer.

"During my time of employment, I acquired an abundance of knowledge and skills which I will benefit from for the rest of my life," Coel wrote.

A Punta Gorda-based attorney says Coel shouldn't have been a police officer in the first place.

Scott Weinberg, who represented a client alleging excessive force against Coel, said Coel was asked to resign from Miramar's department and questioned why he was still on the force.

"I was demanding that he be fired months ago, and I was warning people he was going to kill somebody," Weinberg said.

Weinberg represented Richard Schumacher, who was 25 at the time, after he was mauled by Coel's K-9 partner during an arrest, the attorney said. Schumacher was seriously injured after the K-9 bit him, according to Weinberg.

The arrest occurred on Oct. 30, 2015. Coel attempted to pull Schumacher over for riding his bike without a headlight or a taillight, but the cyclist ignored his commands. Eventually, Schumacher went down to his knees upon Coel's orders. Schumacher pulled his arm away from Coel as the officer tried to arrest him.

Coel deployed his dog, Spirit, which latched onto Schumacher's armpit as the man and officer continued to struggle.

Schumacher can be heard on a video published on YouTube asking the officer to get the dog off of him.

"Stop resisting," Coel repeatedly says to Schumacher.

"I'm not resisting," Schumacher says between screams.

Spirit mauled Schumacher for about two minutes.

Coel was not disciplined for the incident.

"I don’t think he did this intentionally at all," Weinberg said about the shooting of Knowlton. "I'm not saying that, but he does not have proper skills to be a police officer. If he would have been fired this wouldn't have happened."

Weinberg called Coel a "cowboy."

"Every time he pulled somebody over he acted like he was in the middle of a war zone," Weinberg said.

The Schumacher case was the only civil case Weinberg had against the police officer, but he said other clients had been arrested by Coel.

"A lot of those cases get dismissed because he doesn’t follow proper procedure," Weinberg said.

Coel remains on administrative leave while the incident is under investigation, according to Lt. Katie Heck of the Punta Gorda Police Department.

Coel previously participated in "shoot/don't shoot" scenarios and is often seen doing presentations in the community, said Heck.

"Like the rest of our community, Officer Coel is devastated by what happened and is receiving assistance from our department and the Police Benevolent Association at this time," Heck said.

FDLE is investigating the officer-involved shooting, said Steve Arthur, communications coordinator for the department.

"Each case is different and usually they take weeks to get through, especially if there are a lot of people to interview, and it sounds like there was," Arthur said of the Tuesday night shooting. "The investigation is in the early stages but is extremely active. At this time there are no further details available."

Follow Melissa Montoya on Twitter: @MelissaMontoyaO