COLUMBIA, M.d. — Four months after Howard County police officers shot and killed 25-year-old Alexander LaMorie during a mental health crisis, the Independent Investigations Division (IID) within the Maryland Attorney General’s Office will not criminally charge the three officers who discharged their weapons, finding “insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt” they committed a crime.
The office released a 10-page report on its case findings Tuesday, noting that the incident was caught on both police-worn body cameras and surveillance video from the Patuxent Commons apartment complex, where the shooting took place.
On Saturday, February 28th, before midnight, LaMorie called 911 to report he had been the victim of an online scam, which former Police Chief Gregory Der later called “cruel”. PFC Officer Joseph Ribeau and an officer trainee were dispatched to the scene. Ribeau then spoke to LaMorie over the phone and determined he was having suicidal thoughts and planned to initiate a petition for an emergency evaluation.
LaMorie was autistic, and was an advocate openly sharing how his diagnosis impacted his daily life.
Two other officers, Cody Bostic and Joel Rodriguez, were also dispatched to the scene.
They did not find LaMorie inside his apartment, but rather outside with a knife in hand. LaMorie then approached them, ignoring multiple commands to drop the weapon, continuing to express suicidal thoughts as he continued to walk towards them.
When LaMorie was within approximately 12-16 feet, according to the new report, Ribeau, Bostic and Rodriguez, all discharged their department-issued guns, striking LaMorie. He was pronounced dead on the scene less than an hour after calling 911 for help.
A fourth department employee, the unidentified officer trainee, did not discharge their weapon.
The IID found there to be no criminal wrongdoing by officers, reporting they had followed the Howard County Police Department’s Use-of-Force policy.
It writes: “[u]nder the circumstances, the IID cannot disprove a claim by the subject officers that they reasonably believed that Mr. Lamorie presented an immediate danger of serious harm or death. Further, we cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that this belief was objectively unreasonable.”
On police body camera footage, officers can be heard pleading with LaMorie to stop. “We’re getting cornered” is the last thing that is heard before officers open fire.
According to the report, all three officers involved chose not to make a statement as part of the IID’s investigation. The report notes that this did not have an impact on the department’s prosecutorial decision.
LaMorie’s family has called his death “senseless and callous” and has criticized the police department’s response to the shooting and their subsequent treatment by the department, including a last-minute heads-up about a news conference concerning LaMorie’s death.
New details in the case
The report offers a few new details in the case.
Notably, the online romance scam that led to LaMorie’s deteriorated mental state.
The report details how LaMorie had been speaking with a woman whom he believed was 19 years old over the Telegram app. That person later claimed to be a 13-year-old child and threatened to expose him if he did not send a $100 gift card.
The Howard County Police Department is investigating the online crime, but has announced no updates in the case as of late.
Maryland State Police Crime Scene technicians also recovered 12 cartridge casings at the scene. Preliminary ballistics information indicates that all three officers fired multiple rounds.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined LaMorie’s manner of death to be homicide.
Following the Attorney General's decision not to charge LaMorie’s mother, Jill Harrington, issued this lengthy statement.
"I have read the report from the Office of the Attorney General’s Independent
Investigations Division (IID) concerning the avoidable death of my son, Alex LaMorie, at
the hands of the Howard County Police Department (HCPD) on March 1, 2026.
The report confirms in new detail that the responding officers were well aware that Alex was experiencing a mental health crisis before they arrived on scene. Yet they came to the scene completely unprepared, without the proper equipment, the proper plan, and treating Alex’s life-threatening behavioral-medical crisis like a crime.
With suicide rates rising in Maryland, this decision by the Office of the Attorney General sends the wrong message. Rather than advancing safer, evidence-based responses to behavioral health crises, it represents a step backward, and risks undermining the State's committed progress toward a more humane and effective crisis response system. It also threatens the lives of our at most-risk populations, such as our military-veterans-first responders, those living in rural communities, and persons of color.
For the officers to ask on-site that night so casually if anyone has a taser speaks volumes about the acceptable low standards set by leadership. Responding to a known suicidal crisis without less-than lethal options limits the opportunities for a life-preserving approach. It also means that the only option they had for Alex was a lethal response. This is the definition of gross negligence, and, in our opinion, warranted a charge of involuntary manslaughter.
The officers’ comments to one another show their recognition of their tragic failure, only when it was too late. Ultimately, their actions and inactions led to a preventable, fatal killing of a young adult, with a developmental disability - a good citizen and human being who was suffering with sudden profound hopelessness, despair and shame brought about by his vulnerability to a cyberscam and the resulting call to 911.
This report also confirms that the Independent Investigations Division received and reviewed external, building security footage from Patuxent Commons. We are aware that this video is generated from 24/7 surveillance of the inside and outside of the building and shows a broader and more comprehensive view of movement, positioning and timing of how Alex and the police interacted before he was shot.
Why hasn’t the security camera footage been released to the press, the public, or our family? I have been denied every report or piece of evidence I have applied for and have only received significant information through media reports, and the released edited body-worn camera footage.
However, a kind eyewitness, a credible source with substantiation, recently shared that they observed Alex walk toward the officers from the far opposite end of the pathway toward the building just before he was shot. They stated his walk was initiated by the first police officer who spotted him alone, calm on a bench, leaning on a police car after trying
to emotionally de-escalate. Allegedly, the officer gestures to Alex several times with his hand, from across the pathway, waving him to move toward them while verbally giving him a willful order to approach the officers, which Alex does, drawing Alex closer to them.
If the Independent Investigations Division was established to promote transparency, independent review, and public accountability, then those principles are best served by allowing the evidence to speak for itself.
Throughout this investigation and at its close, our family has had no meaningful opportunity to ask questions.
I am requesting the release of the full exterior and interior building footage from the Independent Investigations Division or Patuxent Commons, to help our family and the public better understand this potential new source of information, how the totality of the circumstances were evaluated, and ultimately how the Independent Investigations Division reached its conclusions, rather than relying solely on edited information or summaries from a scant 10 page report.
Our trust in the system has been very rightfully shaken by the system and others. I personally think the management company of Patuxent Commons should reach out and extend some dignity to our family.
I am disappointed with the report’s findings, which do not acknowledge that three police
did anything wrong when they shot my son 12 times and unnecessarily, inhumanely killed him during a mental health crisis. I don’t imagine anyone had a small can of pepper spray on them?
The report also does not tell the full story. Patuxent Commons was a brand-new housing complex in Howard County, specially designed and planned for many years for people with disabilities, and Alex, who had autism, was excited to move in just a few days prior to his death.
On move-in day, Alex shared his thoughts on a whiteboard outside the social worker's office. The board had been placed there to encourage residents to express their feelings about joining the Patuxent Commons community. He wrote happily: “A New Chapter.”
That makes his unnecessary and preventable killing even more heartbreaking. Despite the Independent Investigations Division’s conclusion that it could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that police officers committed a crime when they killed my son, that does not mean their actions were appropriate. Just because something is lawful does not make it a crime against humanity. My son was unnecessarily deprived of his life, his liberty, and any future potential of happiness.
Maryland’s history includes systemic human rights atrocities, including state permitted severe crimes against persons with disabilities at the Rosewood School, where patients faced involuntary eugenic sterilizations and a trafficking ring that forced them into abusive domestic servitude.
Howard County must ensure its police officers are trained and equipped to respond appropriately to individuals with autism and other disabilities. Crisis response should emphasize demonstrated training in disability-informed approaches and the preservation of life – an oath taken by all Howard County Police Department officers. Tragically, those principles were not reflected in the response to my son.
The State of Maryland has left this family behind...and many, many others."
If you need to talk to someone, call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988 or text "HOME" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.
