In November 2021, Officer Matthew Hamilton, a 15-year veteran of the Greensboro Police Department, was involved in the shooting death of 29-year-old Joseph Lopez. Responding to a ‘wanted person call,’ Hamilton and his K-9 located Lopez hiding in a storage shed. After releasing the police dog into the shed, Hamilton entered and fatally shot Lopez in the face. Lopez was unarmed at the time. Hamilton was subsequently fired, indicted for manslaughter, and faced a civil rights lawsuit alleging excessive force. A U.S. District Judge denied Hamilton’s motion for qualified immunity in August 2023, allowing the lawsuit to proceed.

[Return to blog post](https://watchaudits.com/matthew-hamilton-greensboro-police-department/)