BULLETIN: Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has suspended Carlos Irizarry from the Kissimmee City Commission, city spokeswoman Carla Banks has confirmed Friday night. The four remaining members of the City Commission will discuss options regarding the vacancy of seat 2 at the next regular commission meeting Tuesday at 6 p.m.

By Juliana A. Torres
Staff Writer

Kissimmee Commissioner Carlos Irizarry was arrested in Orange County on charges of aggravated assault with a handgun against his estranged wife after he argued with her in a private school parking lot Thursday morning.

Irizarry, the first Hispanic to be elected to the City Commission, was booked into Orange County Jail at 7:02 p.m.

“It's a black eye to the commission, there's no two ways around it,” Kissimmee Commissioner Jerry Gemskie said. “It's just a bad reflection on all public officials, and I take it personally.”

The couple was arguing at the Living Word Academy, in south Orange County, before a graduation for Irizarry's “future granddaughter,” he told Orange County Sheriff's Office deputies. Irizarry had dropped his “future fiance” at the door of the academy and parked his black Lincoln in the parking lot, leaving his black Glock 27 in the car, according to Sheriff's Office reports.

His wife, Delia Irizarry, came up to him inside the school and began arguing, calling him several names and threatening to call her attorney. He followed her out to her vehicle as she left and tried to talk to her. She called him a “traitor and a liar” and slammed the car door, reports said.

Two mothers of students that attended the school were in the parking lot at the time of the argument, according to reports. One told deputies she saw Irizarry tap the car window with a gun. The other said she followed the couple out to the parking lot as their argument got heated and just saw the man involved tap the glass with a black object. She heard him say he would shoot the woman inside the car.

Irizarry himself told deputies he pointed his finger at his wife and said he would break the window if she did not listen to him. He admitted to poking at the window two or three times as he tried to get her to open the door.

"I was only pointing my finger," Irizarry said to a man who confronted him in the parking lot after Delia drove away. The man confronted him when the two mothers, running back toward the school, told him that there was a man in the parking lot with a gun in his hand.

Irizarry told a witness that someone had called his wife and “told her he was there with another woman,” according to the report.

Deputies responded to the academy, at 653 W. Wetherbee Road, at around 10:55 a.m., after the parents called 911. A Sheriff's Office deputy stopped Irizarry as he tried to drive away from the school and found the handgun, loaded with a full magazine, in his Lincoln car. Irizarry, who does have a concealed weapons permit, was wearing a black holster when he was stopped.

The commissioner was taken into custody without incident and transported to a local hospital after he complained of being hot and having trouble breathing. He was booked into the Orange County Jail later that night. The investigation into the incident is ongoing.

“It was a surprise to me,” fellow Commissioner Art Otero said of the arrest. “I just pray for his family. Hopefully, the truth in all this will come out.”

The city of Kissimmee was notified of Irizarry's arrest at around 2 p.m. Thursday, city spokeswoman Carla Banks said. Given the felony charge, the governor could suspend Irizarry from office, in which case a replacement would be appointed.

“The bad part is, we're going to be going through budget and other items it would be nice to have a full commission for,” Commissioners Cheryl Grieb said of the potentially vacant seat.

Seat 2, to which Irizarry was first elected in November 2006, is up for grabs in the local election this August. Irizarry had filed to run for what would be his second four-year term. Wanda Rentas and John Cortes also are running for the seat.

Kissimmee commissioners said they worried how the arrest might reflect against the city.

“I hope one individual's poor judgment does not tarnish the good name that the city of Kissimmee, in my opinion, has,” Grieb said. “I would hope that the people in the community can separate out this incident from the balance of the commission in the city as a whole.”

Irizarry and his wife have two older children, Carlos and Mayra. Several of his fellow commissioners recall meeting Delia Irizarry at city functions.

“She's just a very nice individual, very polite, very quiet, and always very proper,” Gemskie said.

Gemskie said Irizarry's arrest and other local scandals undermined the integrity of “good public officials,” who did their job and didn't attract attention.

“Its a black eye to the political arena,” he said. “We don't get recognized until we punch somebody.”