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| No charges will be filed against Metro Transit officer in fatal March shooting | No charges will be filed against Metro Transit officer in fatal March shooting |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The U.S. attorney’s office said it will not file federal charges against the Metro Transit police officer who fatally shot a man wielding a large tree branch in a Metro tunnel last March. | |
| At the time of the March 12 shooting, authorities said Bobby Gross, 35, who has lived in Virginia and the District, had rushed at the officer in the dimly lit tunnel between the Stadium-Armory and Potomac Avenue stations in Southeast Washington. | |
| Prosecutors said an investigation found that the face-to-face encounter occurred on an elevated 21-inch-wide catwalk adjacent to the 750-volt third rail. | |
| Prosecutors in the office said they, along with D.C. police and Metro Transit officers, interviewed more than a dozen witnesses, both law enforcement and civilian, reviewed evidence collected at the scene, reviewed Metro Transit video footage, DNA, ballistics, photographs and toxicology reports. | Prosecutors in the office said they, along with D.C. police and Metro Transit officers, interviewed more than a dozen witnesses, both law enforcement and civilian, reviewed evidence collected at the scene, reviewed Metro Transit video footage, DNA, ballistics, photographs and toxicology reports. |
| [Details of the arrest of shoeless, pantless man fatally shot by Metro officer] | [Details of the arrest of shoeless, pantless man fatally shot by Metro officer] |
| New details of the shooting emerged as a result of the investigation. About 9:06 p.m., the operator of a Franconia-Springfield-bound Blue Line train spotted Gross — who was shoeless and dressed only in a T-shirt and boxer shorts — and called Metro’s rail operations center. | |
| Prosecutors gave this account of the exchange: | Prosecutors gave this account of the exchange: |
| The officer arrived at the tunnel alone and confronted Gross. Gross pulled a tree branch from behind his back that was about 3-feet long, 2 1/2 inches wide and weighed about three pounds. Gross held the branch waist high and pointed it at the officer as he continued to approach her. The officer told Gross to drop the branch, but he advanced more quickly. The officer was not able to back up and instead yelled at Gross, “Drop the stick or I’ll shoot you.” | |
| Gross, prosecutors said, continued to advance and the unnamed officer fired once. The officer was unable to retreat, and was instead stuck between the tunnel wall and the third rail. Gross then sprinted at the officer and she fired three more times. Gross then lunged at the officer and struck her in her hands and arms. The officer fired another round and Gross fell to the tracks. | Gross, prosecutors said, continued to advance and the unnamed officer fired once. The officer was unable to retreat, and was instead stuck between the tunnel wall and the third rail. Gross then sprinted at the officer and she fired three more times. Gross then lunged at the officer and struck her in her hands and arms. The officer fired another round and Gross fell to the tracks. |
| Prosecutors said they were unable to prove the officer acted with “deliberate or specific intent” to fatally shoot Gross. “Accident, mistake, fear, negligence and bad judgment do not establish such a criminal violation,” the attorney’s office said in a statement. | |
| “After a careful, thorough and independent review of the evidence, federal prosecutors have found insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer used excessive force under the circumstances known at the time or acted with the requisite criminal intent,” prosecutors said. | “After a careful, thorough and independent review of the evidence, federal prosecutors have found insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer used excessive force under the circumstances known at the time or acted with the requisite criminal intent,” prosecutors said. |
| The officer, whom Metro declined to name, is a 10-year veteran of the force, a Metro spokesperson said. | |
| It was the first fatal shooting by a Metro transit officer since 2012 — when a man was killed during a shootout in Lanham. | It was the first fatal shooting by a Metro transit officer since 2012 — when a man was killed during a shootout in Lanham. |
| Gross’s shooting was one of 990 fatal police-involved shootings in the U.S. last year. | |
| [Fatal police-involved shootings in the U.S. last year] | |
| Peter Hermann contributed to this report. | Peter Hermann contributed to this report. |