Police Shooting At Gaithersburg McDonald's: Video Clips Released

GAITHERSBURG, MD — Montgomery County Police released segments of body camera footage from the officers who shot 21-year-old Ryan Leroux in a McDonald’s drive-through in Gaithersburg on July 16.

The footage shows Leroux moving inside his car just moments before the shooting. Chief of Police Marcus Jones showed the videos to reporters Tuesday afternoon and said the clips will be posted online by the end of the day, but did not state if he thought the shooting was justified.

On July 16, the police received a call about a man refusing to pay or leave the drive-through and responded to the call about an hour later. When officers got to the McDonald’s, they said they saw a handgun on Leroux’s front seat.

Leroux was not visible in much of the shown footage for the first few minutes, with the camera capturing the front of the car and the space in front of the car. The officer says that he can see a gun on the passenger seat, the car door is locked, and that Leroux is not cooperating.

During a clip of a call between the department's Emergency Communications Center, the person at the center can be heard asking Leroux to cooperate and asking if his hands are up. Leroux tells her that his hands are up, and eventually that they are out of the car window. Jones said that officers did not see Leroux's hands up or out of the window at that time.

At one point an officer went inside the McDonald’s to put a camera in the drive-through window so that they could see where the gun was in the car, Jones said. Jones said that a sergeant was going to patch into the Emergency Communications Center's call with Leroux, but Leroux hung up. The sergeant then called Leroux on his phone to talk to him, Jones said, and Leroux hung up again.

The officers who put the body camera in the drive-through window said they saw the gun still on the seat and a bottle of alcohol. Officers were talking about what the strategy would be when the negotiator arrived, Jones said.

The video then showed Leroux moving in his vehicle followed by officers shooting at the car. Police then approached the car, some behind ballistic shields and opened the passenger side door. One officer reached in and across the console, Jones said, and took out the gun. The officers then administered CPR until ambulances arrived, Jones said.

The chief did not take any questions following the presentation of the videos. He told press that the state medical examiner report on Leroux’s death could take eight to 10 weeks to complete, said Jones.