MD attorney general won’t charge officers who fatally shot autistic man

Four months after police in Maryland fatally shot an autistic man, who had called them for help related to an extortion scam and made suicidal statements, state authorities have decided not to charge the officers in the case.

“There is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the subject officers committed a crime under Maryland law,” according to the findings from the Maryland Office of the Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division, which is in charge of probing and prosecuting fatal police-involved incidents in the state.

In their report released Tuesday, investigators said Alex LaMorie, 25, refused officers’ commands to drop a knife and moved within 12 to 16 feet of them just before they shot him. Maryland State Police collected 12 cartridge casings from the scene.

Community advocates and LaMorie’s family have questioned the officers’ actions, saying nonlethal alternatives should have been used, particularly in an incident involving a person with a disability.

At least one of the officers raised that issue during the moments before the shooting in March.

“Do we have less lethal?” one of the officers asked moments before the shooting, according to the report.

Body-camera footage showed LaMorie did not lift his arm to point the knife in their direction.

RELATED: Before shooting of autistic man in Howard County, officer yelled: ‘Please don’t make me do this’

Jill Harrington, LaMorie’s mother, said the decision not to pursue criminal charges sends the wrong message. Officers treated “Alex’s life-threatening behavioral-medical crisis like a crime,” she said in a statement to The Washington Post. The officers should have been charged with involuntary manslaughter, she said.

“It represents a step backward, and risks undermining the State’s committed progress toward a more humane and effective crisis response system,” Harrington said.

The shooting occurred at Patuxent Commons, an inclusive housing community for residents with and without disabilities, where LaMorie had moved days earlier. “A New Chapter,” he wrote on a whiteboard posted there, his mother said.

State officials considered three crimes the officers could have been charged with – Maryland’s use of force statue and homicide offenses – but decided they would be unable to secure a conviction.

To convince a jury that officers violated the state’s use of force statute, the report says, the attorney general’s office would have to prove that the force used was intentionally excessive, was unnecessary, and was not “proportional to prevent an imminent threat of physical injury” to the officers or others, “or to accomplish a legitimate law enforcement objective.” As for potential homicide charges, the office determined it would not be able to disprove self-defense claims from the officers.

LaMorie called police on Feb. 28, just before midnight, to report that someone he had met through the instant messaging app Telegram, and who had claimed to be a 19-year-old woman, “was now claiming to be a 13-year-old child,” according to the report. That person “was blackmailing him on social media if he did not send her a $100 gift card,” it said.

Police Officer First Class Joseph Riebau and an officer trainee headed to LaMorie’s home to initiate a petition for emergency evaluation, which officers can conduct if someone is in a mental health crisis and poses a danger to themselves or others, the report said.

Two other officers – Joel Rodriguez and Cody Bostic – arrived at the same time.

Officers knocked on LaMorie’s apartment door but didn’t get an answer. It was unlocked, and when they went inside he wasn’t there.

The officers split up to look for him.

Riebau and the officer trainee found LaMorie in the parking lot.

Riebau radioed dispatch that LaMorie “was approaching them with a knife in his hand,” the report said.

The other two officers, Bostic and Rodriguez, had been searching elsewhere and hurried toward an elevator. Bostic asked Rodriguez if he had a Taser. But the officer did not, according to the report.

Riebau told LaMorie to drop the knife, saying “it’s a common scam,” referring to the blackmail scheme described in the initial phone call.

He did not “want to live anymore,” LaMorie told them, according to the report. He said he “want[ed] to be free of his pain.” He held out his arms and told the officers, “go ahead.”

“Nobody wants to hurt you,” Riebau told him, according to the report. “It’ll get better.”

After Bostic and Rodriguez reached them, LaMorie walked toward the officers with the knife still in his hand, the report said.

After repeated commands to stop and drop the knife, all four officers pointed their guns at LaMorie. But he continued coming toward them, according to the report.

As the officers moved backward, LaMorie shouted “no,” and kept moving their way, according to the report.

“We’re getting cornered,” one officer said.

“Do we have less lethal?” asked another.

Riebau, Rodriguez and Bostic then fired multiple rounds at LaMorie. The officer trainee did not shoot.

LaMorie fell to the ground. According to the body-cam footage, the officers yelled for him to drop the knife while he was down. The officers and emergency medical workers responded and rendered aid, but LaMorie was pronounced dead at 12:34 a.m.

On May 2, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled his death a homicide.

According to Howard County Police Department policy, officers are required to try to de-escalate, including by using verbal persuasion and warnings and requesting additional resources such as mental health providers to resolve the incident, according to the attorney general’s office.

Calling 911 was part of LaMorie’s safety plan if he was ever in need, Harrington said.

LaMorie regularly advocated for and supported other autistic people, serving as an advisory board member for the Autism & Grief Project, which provides information and support for those living with both.

He liked to write action and horror stories and had earned an associate’s degree from the University of Maryland Global Campus.

Jasmine Golden is a reporter covering crime and courts on the Metro desk at The Washington Post. Juan Benn Jr. is a reporter covering criminal justice in Virginia. He has been at The Post since 2024 and previously covered crime and courts in Washington, D.C. and Maryland.