ROSWELL, Ga. — Roswell police had at least six interactions in the last 10 years with the man accused of killing an officer, according to police reports.
Channel 2 Action News has obtained copies of police reports detailing incidents involving Edward Espinoza, the suspect charged with shooting and killing Officer Jeremy Labonte on Friday.
Some of the reports don’t detail criminal acts in which Espinoza faced charges. Some of them detail mental health incidents in which he was detained and taken for help.
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One report obtained details an incident just over a month before Officer Labonte was shot and killed. It says Espinoza suffered a mental health crisis while he had a weapon. Officers detained him as soon as they arrived. His family reported that he suffers from schizophrenia.
He was taken to the hospital for treatment at his own request. But police determined that no crime had occurred.
In July 2024, Espinoza’s family called police to say they were concerned about him going out on his own after conflicts with his family because they “don’t know his intentions.”
While interviewing him, Roswell police said they learned he had three active warrants against him for simple battery, criminal trespass and public drunkenness, and took him into custody.
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On Monday, Channel 2′s Michael Seiden reported on an incident in April 2024 in which Ring doorbell camera captured an incident between Espinoza and one of his neighbors.
Vicente Basilio Castillo told Seiden that Espinoza came up to his door and began harassing him and his wife. He said Espinoza eventually took off running, so he chased him.
“He takes off running again, So then I chase him and I trip him,” he said. “I have him a stranglehold, and I tell him, ‘If you don’t stop, if you don’t calm down, it’s going to get much worse.’”
According to the police report, Espinoza was arrested and charged with simple battery, criminal trespass and public drunkenness.
In 2022, Roswell police were called to a domestic disturbance involving Espinoza and his family arguing. The report details Espinoza buying a large gun safe that his parents wouldn’t allow him to bring into the apartment because it was too big.
Two other reports detail incidents from 2015 when Espinoza was still a minor. Roswell police confirmed that Espinoza was the juvenile involved in those incidents.
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