The Maryland Attorney General’s Office will not charge police officers in the fatal shooting of 46-year-old Elliott Powers at a Gaithersburg bus stop on July 12.
Attorney general’s decision
“The subject officers were not the aggressors; instead, they responded to a call for an armed person,” states a report from Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown’s Office.
Powers’ loaded handgun was found at the scene with one live round in its chamber and seven live rounds in its magazine. Investigators also found 25 spent casings from officers’ rifles and handguns at the scene. The officers involved were Gaithersburg Police Sgt. Christopher Leach, Gaithersburg Police Officers Carissa Fortin and Noah Whelan, and Montgomery County Police Officers Robert Bullock, Andrew Hanko and Michael Wengloski.
“When officers attempted to de-escalate and negotiate, Powers refused,” the report states. “Instead, Powers racked his gun and verbally threatened officers. When Powers ultimately pointed a loaded handgun at a witness officer, he presented a clear threat of imminent death or serious bodily injury to the officer.”
Racial Justice NOW! responds
“It’s unacceptable the Attorney General has decided to continue the practice of not holding law enforcement to the highest standards of constitutional policing,” Zakiya Sankara-Jabar, Racial Justice NOW! co-founder and co-executive director, said in a statement to MCM.
“Black people, particularly Black boy’s and men remain the most impacted by these types of state-sanctioned executions. We need all elected officials to value all life and humanity. At Racial Justice NOW we will continue disrupting this status quo that devalues and extinguishes Black life without consequences,” Sankara-Jabar said in a statement.
Contentious community meeting
The fatal shooting was a main topic during a heated community meeting in Gaithersburg on Aug. 27. It prompted a statement from County Councilmember Dawn Luedtke, who hosted the meeting at South Lake Elementary School. Luedtke acknowledged that the shooting “is a tragedy” and there must be more commitment to crisis intervention services.
Body-camera footage
Forty-five minutes of police body-camera footage was released following the shooting. The video includes police vehicle dashboard camera footage, as well.
The video shows Sgt. Leach approaching Powers at the bus stop. Officers then retreat behind the vehicle and establish that Powers has a gun. Leach tells Powers, “Come on man, just drop the gun.” Powers says in the video, “Do what you’ve got to do.”
A Gaithersburg Police officer says, “Please just drop it, please. Please just drop the gun, please.” The officer says “I don’t want to hurt you.” Powers responds with, “Hurt me.”
“Just work with me on this,” says the officer. “You’re going to have to kill me,” Powers can be heard saying. “I don’t want to do that, nobody wants to do that, you don’t want that,” the officer responds. Powers is repeatedly told to drop the gun.
Leach can be heard asking about a negotiator over his radio. The officers back out to give Powers space. Dispatchers radioed that a negotiator was on the way less than 10 minutes before the shooting, according to the attorney general’s report.
Officers continue to talk with Powers. “Come on, Elliott … Bad day, let’s just start over tomorrow, all right?” About one minute later, officers say “Gun out!” and “drop the handgun” and start firing shots.
Powers can be seen moving his arm while holding a gun before officers fire shots. Then officers head toward the bus stop, where blood and shattered glass can be seen, as well as Powers’ body. Officers secure the gun next to Powers and begin providing medical aid.
