No Charges For MoCo Officers After Fatal Bus Stop Shooting

GAITHERSBURG, MD — The six officers tied to the fatal July shooting of a 46-year-old man at a Gaithersburg bus stop will not face charges, the Maryland attorney general announced Tuesday.

Attorney General Anthony Brown said in a release that an investigation into the fatal shooting determined there was insufficient evidence to indicate any of the officers committed a crime under Maryland law.

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The six officers — split between the Gaithersburg and Montgomery County police departments — were identified as:

• GPD Sgt. Christopher Leach, 14-year police veteran
• GPD Officer Carissa Fortin, with the force for nearly nine years
• GPD Officer Noah Whelan, five-year police veteran
• MCPD Officer Robert Bullock, seven-year police veteran
• MCPD Officer Andrew Hanko, eight-year police veteran
• MCPD Officer Michael Wengloski, 12.5-year police veteran

Of the six individuals, Leach was the first on the scene, along with a GPD witness officer, according to Brown's report.

The fatal shooting took place July 21 at the 9600 block of Lost Knife Road, moments after 911 calls were received about an armed man — later identified as Elliott Powers — at a bus stop near the Montgomery Village Plaza shopping center.

Findings released by the attorney general detailed that when Leach instructed Powers to display his hands, he responded by withdrawing a loaded handgun and stating that he wasn't "dropping s***."

Related: Authorities Identify MoCo Man Fatally Shot By Police At Bus Stop

Leach was joined by Fortin, Whelan, Bullock, Hanko, and Wengloski, among others, within five minutes of arriving at the scene.

Brown's report states the incident ultimately proved deadly after Powers pointed his firearm at an officer clearing bystanders from the shopping center's parking lot.

Powers was pronounced dead at the scene about 13 minutes after first coming in contact with officers.

More than two dozen bullet casings were found at the scene by investigators. Technicians from the Maryland State Police who retrieved Powers' handgun found it loaded with seven 9-millimeter rounds in its magazine and a live round in the chamber.

The attorney general's report comes weeks after state officials released body camera and dashcam footage from the shooting.