VERO BEACH, Fla. — Jury selection is underway in a case surrounding a 2017 SWAT raid on the Treasure Coast that ended with the death of a woman and a man charged with several counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer.
On Monday, Judge Dan Vaughn addressed potential jurors in the trial of Andrew Coffee IV.
It was back in March 2017 when the drug raid was executed at a home off 35th Avenue in Gifford.
The sheriff’s office maintains after announcing its presence, two SWAT team members began to break a window where Coffee and his girlfriend were sleeping.
An arrest affidavit detailed Coffee fired shots first from inside the bedroom.
Coffee was formally charged in July 2017with second-degree murder with a firearm, three counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer by discharging a firearm, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and shooting or throwing a deadly missile.
"As he shot no less than four rounds at our deputies, our SWAT team members returned fire, essentially a firefight," former Sheriff Deryl Loar said in 2017.
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Coffee's family disputes who shot first, but in the crossfire, Coffee's 21-year-old girlfriend, Alteria Woods, was killed.
She was hit by law enforcement rounds.
Those officers were cleared of wrongdoing by a grand jury.
The shooting prompted several rallies and calls for the sheriff's office to get body cameras. The agency recently acquired them and they're now in regular use.
Earlier this year, Vaughn denied a request from Coffee's defense team that he was eligible for immunity under the state's "stand your ground" law.
Jury selection continues Tuesday. The trial is scheduled to last two weeks.
