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The Baltimore Police officer who fired the shot that killed Donnell Rochester received training that it is almost never safe or effective to shoot at a moving car and that department policy instructs members to avoid positioning themselves in the path of a vehicle, according to a 31-page investigative report released on Tuesday.
Officer Connor Murray shot and killed Rochester, 18, of Odenton, on Chilton Street near Hillen Road in Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello, on Feb. 19, 2022. Law enforcement discovered that there was a warrant for his arrest and reported that he drove his 2016 Honda Accord toward the officer.
Murray was standing in the middle of the street about 20 feet in front of the car. As the vehicle moved toward him, he shot three times, dodged the car and then fired again, hitting Rochester in the right triceps and upper chest, according to the report.
Last week, Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates said he would not bring charges in the deadly shooting, which at the time sparked protests and calls for justice.
“Ultimately, we could not ethically bring this case to court, given the circumstances in which these officers discharged their weapons,” Bates said in a previous statement. “As the current Baltimore City State’s Attorney, it is my duty and ethical responsibility to follow the law.”
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The Maryland Office of the Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division scrutinizes all cases in which police officers shoot and kill people and detailed its findings and legal analysis in the report, which is dated Aug. 3, 2022. The document does not include a recommendation about whether charges are warranted in the case.
With the first three shots that Murray fired at the car, the report states, it would be difficult for prosecutors to prove that his actions were unreasonable. That’s necessary for the state to disprove partial or complete self-defense.
At the same time, Murray received training that shooting at a moving car is unlikely to stop it but “only cause the vehicle to continue uncontrolled.” Plus, he seems to have been able to get out of the way. But he had reason to believe that the vehicle could hit him, and the state cannot judge his actions with 20/20 hindsight, according to the report.
Meanwhile, prosecutors possibly could prove that Murray acted unreasonably when he fired the fourth and fatal shot, the report states.
Murray, the report outlines, had already dodged that car and fallen to the ground when he pulled the trigger.
“At that time, Mr. Rochester no longer posed a threat to Officer Murray, and Officer Murray had no reason to believe that Mr. Rochester posed a threat to any other officer or civilian,” the report states. “No other officers or civilians were in the path of Mr. Rochester’s vehicle and officers had no reason to believe that Mr. Rochester was armed other otherwise imminently dangerous.”
In that situation, Baltimore Police Department policy states that using deadly force is “not reasonable, necessary, or proportional,” according to the report. Murray was required to reassess the threat after each shot, according to the report.
The law recognizes that officers are often forced to make split-second decisions, the report states, and Murray undoubtedly found himself in a “tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving” situation. So it’s unclear whether a judge or jury would give him leeway in the case, according to the report.
The report states that it is also unclear what weight a judge or jury would give to “apparent discrepancies” from Murray about whether the car hit him.
Following the shooting, Murray said, “I think he hit my leg. I’m not sure.” He then separately told two supervisors that he did not believe that the vehicle struck him. Later, he went to Mercy Medical Center — though parts of the report that discuss that visit are redacted.
If the case went to trial, Murray could argue that he at least partially acted in self-defense and reduce a potentially relevant charge to voluntary manslaughter.
It is “highly unlikely” that prosecutors could prove a charge of second-degree murder, according to the report.
And if the state tried to make a case for involuntary manslaughter, it would be difficult to prove that Murray’s actions before the shooting rose to the required level of recklessness, the report states.
Besides violating the explicit policy against officers positioning themselves in front of vehicles, Murray also likely ran afoul of a policy about deescalation, the report alleges. A judge or jury might find that his actions were negligent — but not reckless, according to the report.
Later, the report analyzes the actions of Officer Robert Mauri, who fired two shots at the car but did not hit Rochester.
Lawyers for the family, Billy Murphy and Malcolm Ruff, have questioned why police fired in the first place and did not rush Rochester to the hospital. (The attorney general found that police immediately called paramedics and started giving him medical attention.)
His mother, Danielle Brown, has described the pain of losing her son as “so deep that it’s unbearable.”
“My son is not worth no money. I don’t want no money,” Brown said at one protest outside Baltimore City Hall. “I want them indicted. That’s it.”
In an email, Lindsey Eldridge, a police spokesperson, said the officers remain on administrative duty pending the outcome of an internal investigation.
dylan.segelbaum@thebaltimorebanner.com
Read the report
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Dylan Segelbaum is the courts reporter at The Baltimore Banner.
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