ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Funeral services were held for 22-year-old Salaythis Melvin on Saturday as the investigation into his death in a deputy-involved shooting at Florida Mall continued.


What You Need To Know

  • Funeral for Salaythis Melvin was held at New Life Church

  • Melvin was shot outside Florida Mall on August 7

  • Protesters marched to Orange County Sheriff's Office after funeral

  • FDLE investigators are still looking at the case

Inside the New Life Church, friends and family gathered to remember Melvin, recall the good times they had, and shared that he liked joking with them.

 “I said, 'I love you;' he said, 'I love you, too,' ” Melvin’s cousin Serilla Crawford said. “I thank God I got a moment to tell him I love him.”

His family said Melvin will never be forgotten.

Investigators say the 22-year-old was shot and killed by an Orange County deputy August 7 outside the Florida Mall. Body camera footage from deputies who were coming on scene shows Melvin running away before he was shot.

The deputy suspected of firing on him told investigators that Melvin had his hand on a gun in his waistband and turned back toward the depty as he ran. In an affadavit, sheriff's investigators said the deputy feared Melvin was going to shoot.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office released some body camera video a week after the shooting — but there has been no video released from a body camera on the deputy suspected of shooting Melvin. A sheriff’s captain told a citizens advisory committee on Thursday that the deputy may have been in plain clothes and therefore may not have been equipped with a body camera.

Attorneys for Melvin’s family say they want to see video from the Florida Mall’s surveillance cameras to try to get a better look at what happened.

After the funeral, protesters marched to the Orange County Sheriff's Office, hoping to get answers to their questions about Melvin's death.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is still investigating the shooting.