A Cape Coral man shot by police behind a mattress store on Del Prado Boulevard North on Wednesday was pointing what turned out to be a CO2 airsoft pistol, not a real firearm, when officers opened fire. Daniel Eric Colon, 43, died at Gulf Coast Hospital after two officers shot him following a confrontation that began with a violent break-in at a family member's home.
Cape Coral police identified Colon as the man killed in the September 9 shooting, confirming he died at the hospital after being shot by two officers, according to the Cape Coral Police Department. As reported by Florida Today, Colon was found pointing a handgun at officers moments before he was shot. Investigators later determined that weapon was a CO2 airsoft pistol rather than a lethal firearm, according to Gulf Coast News's reporting on the case.
A Break-In, a 911 Call, and a Chase
The chain of events started around 4:45 p.m. Wednesday, when emergency dispatchers received 911 calls reporting that Colon was armed with a gun and a knife after he forcibly kicked down the front door of a family member's home in the 1400 block of NE 10th Terrace, per the Cape Coral Police Department's account. Both a neighbor and someone inside the residence called 911 during the break-in, the department noted.
Colon then fled on foot carrying the weapons. Responding Cape Coral officers and Lee County Sheriff's deputies eventually found him hiding in bushes next to a dumpster enclosure behind a City Mattress store at 915 NE 15th Place, near Del Prado Boulevard North, the department's report indicates.
Body-Camera Stills Show the Standoff
The Cape Coral Police Department released body-worn camera still frames showing Colon pointing the replica handgun directly at officers in the moments before the shooting, along with photos of the recovered knife and the airsoft pistol. The images were part of the department's public accounting of the encounter behind the mattress store.
Cape Coral Police Chief Anthony Sizemore disclosed that Colon had been arrested just five weeks earlier, on August 2, on charges including battery and resisting law enforcement, according to the department's account relayed through local media. No officers were hurt in Wednesday's shooting, and the two who fired their weapons were placed on administrative leave, which the department said is standard procedure after any officer-involved shooting.
Legal Standard for Deadly Force
Under Florida Statute Section 776.05, officers are legally justified in using deadly force when they reasonably believe it is necessary to protect themselves or others from imminent death or great bodily harm while making a lawful arrest, and they have no duty to retreat when facing threatened resistance. The body-camera stills released by police show the airsoft pistol was visually indistinguishable from a real handgun in the moment, a detail that speaks directly to that legal standard.
Officer-involved shootings in Lee County and across Florida routinely trigger independent reviews by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement alongside internal departmental inquiries, with FDLE evaluations determining whether officers' actions complied with criminal law. That process is now expected to unfold alongside the Cape Coral Police Department's own internal review of Wednesday's shooting.
A Rare Kind of Violence for Cape Coral
Fatal police shootings remain uncommon in Cape Coral, a city of nearly 200,000 residents that has long ranked among Florida's safer large municipalities per capita. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program data recorded just 226 violent crimes and five homicides citywide in 2019, underscoring how rarely deadly violence occurs there.
The shooting adds to a string of tense police encounters in Cape Coral this year, following an armed standoff on Everest Parkway in March and a SWAT operation in August involving a man who dove out a window while fleeing officers over stolen goods. No further details on the investigation into Colon's death, including any FDLE findings, have been released.
