Orlando police officer involved in Colonial Plaza shooting arrested on manslaughter charge

Master Police Officer Anthony Wongshue of the Orlando Police Department was arrested late Wednesday night on manslaughter charges stemming from a fatal shooting that took place at the Colonial Plaza on May 7, 2018.

Wongshue, a 16-year veteran of law enforcement, was notified of his indictment and opted to turn himself in to authorities, police say. He was booked into Orange County jail, where he was released on bond. 

"He remains employed by the Orlando  Police Department on an administrative status pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings," says OPD spokesman Eduardo Bernal.

The charges are in connection with Wongshue and Officer Juan Abreu's involvement in a shooting last year at the Colonial Plaza shopping center.

According to investigators, Wongshue and Abreu approached a minivan after two women were accused of shoplifting. The two women, later revealed as Jocelyn Villot and Brittany Chandler, entered a van driven by 32-year-old Juan Silva. Cell phone footage obtained by WKMG shows the officers standing on either side of the van as it began to drive away.

The video then shows one officer firing into the driver's side of the vehicle, as the other officer fires into the vehicle's rear window.

The vehicle was found about a mile away. Silva was found inside the vehicle with multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

Abreu was cleared of his involvement in the shooting by the state attorney's office in March, police say.

The findings of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's investigation into the incident were turned over the state attorney's office in August.

The Fraternal Order of Police released a statement earlier today on its support for Wongshue, WKMG reports.

"We would ask that, as this long journey begins for Master Police Officer Wongshue to prepare and present his side of the story, that he be given the same courtesies, rights and protections that he has given to all others to whom he has sworn to protect for 16 plus years," the statement reads.

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