VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.— News 3 is hearing from the wife of the man shot and killed by police last Thursday after authorities said he pointed a gun at a Virginia Beach Police officer.
It started when an officer pulled over a car reported stolen on Newtown Road. Driving the car was DeShawn Whitaker, and in the passenger seat was his wife, Jacqueline Ortiz.
When the officer tried to detain Whitaker, he escaped. As the officer then tried to detain Ortiz, Whitaker came back, pointing a gun toward the officer. That's when the officer fired, striking Whitaker. He later died at the hospital.
Ortiz was briefly hospitalized for injuries before being charged and taken to the Virginia Beach City Jail.
Ortiz on Sunday spoke with News 3's Kelsey Jones from the jail.
Swipe through the videos above to see the full interview.
"Right now I feel like I lost a piece of myself," Ortiz said as she mourns her husband's death. "He could have shot my husband in the arm, leg, the side, anywhere else. For the officer to aim the gun at my head and physically shoot my husband in the head, I feel like he was doing it on purpose."
Ortiz said she and her husband "didn't know the vehicle was stolen until about a day prior to this incident."
Ortiz told News 3 she had a feeling the car was stolen after a friend had given it to them. She regrets not reporting it to the police.
Police said when the officer tried to take Ortiz into custody, she resisted and reached for a gun.
Ortiz shares a different story.
"When the officer tackled me, and my shirt came up I let the officer know I was armed. I told him I was armed but I'm not going to do anything. I couldn't even reach it," said Ortiz.
Ortiz shared with News 3 she is not legally allowed to have a gun. She says the events of that day still replay in her mind.
"The last thing I hear before my husband drops to the ground is 'get off my wife' and he goes to reach in his bag," Ortiz said. "My husband didn't even get to fully pull his gun out of the bag before the officer shoots him in the head."
Ortiz said she felt like "it's kind of my fault."
"If he didn't feel like he was protecting me in that moment he would've never come back," she said.
News 3's Kelsey Jones asked: "Do you have any regrets from that afternoon? Is there anything that you would've done differently?"
"I would've told him we could've just took a Lyft to his mom's and get rid of the car last honestly," said Ortiz.
Ortiz faces four charges and is being held without bond. She is scheduled to appear in court on March 10.
In a previous interview, News 3's Former Norfolk Chief of Police and News 3's Law Enforcement Analyst Larry Boone said what happened is justified.
"Folks again have to understand, particularly when the officer is outnumbered, there's no such thing as fair," Boone said at the time. "Officers are walking into the unknown, they don't know how many people are in the car, they don't know their state of mind, so that's problematic on its own."
