Man Killed In MOCO Police Shooting Identified As Ryan Leroux

GAITHERSBURG, MD — The Montgomery County Police Department have identified the man officers shot and killed in a Gaithersburg McDonald's drive-through Friday night as 21-year-old Ryan Leroux.

Chief Marcus Jones said police received a call from restaurant employees that Leroux refused to pay or leave the drive-through on Friday night around 9:15.

Police didn’t respond to the call until 10:28 p.m. because they had higher priority calls, Jones said at a news conference Monday. When they arrived they saw a handgun on the man's front seat and called for back-up. Officers negotiated for 30 minutes and called in for a negotiator, Jones said.

“In the meantime, officers on scene formulated an arrest plan for a peaceful conclusion to this event,” the chief said. “The officers were able to contact Mr. Leroux on his cell phone and made several attempts to talk with him.”

A sergeant spoke with Leroux and tried to convince him to get out of the car safely, Jones said. Leroux was not cooperative and right before the negotiator arrived officers shot the man, the chief said. Jones did not give more details on what led officers to shoot.

Jones said a loaded Glock 27 was found on Leroux. Body camera footage will be reviewed, and Leroux’s family has opted to view it. So far County Executive Marc Elrich has seen the footage and it is being held by the Howard County State's Attorney's Office. The Montgomery County Council will review it and it will eventually be released to the public, Jones said.

“I want to make clear that body worn cameras are a useful tool, but they do not replace the human eye and what the officers actually saw,” he said at the news conference. “We are working to ensure all video footage is recovered from the scene.”

The officers involved are on administrative leave while the investigation is ongoing, which the police department said is its standard practice.

The department's Major Crimes division is investigating, and the Howard County State's Attorney's Office will review the investigation. The counties have an agreement that whenever there is an officer shooting that causes injury or death, the other county's State's Attorney's Office will review the investigation into it.