AG Identifies Person Fatally Shot By Baltimore Police Last Week And Officers Who Fired Weapons
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A unit within the Maryland Attorney General's office identified the person fatally shot by police last Saturday as 18-year-old Donnell Rochester of Odenton, Maryland.
The two officers involved in the incident were identified as Robert Mauri and Connor Murray. Both are assigned to the Operations Bureau.
Mauri has 4 1/2 years in the department, while Murray has 3 1/2, according to Attorney General Brian Frosh's office.
The Independent Investigations Division of the Office of the Attorney General, a group tasked with investigating all deadly encounters with law enforcement, is looking into the circumstances of the Feb. 19 shooting.
On Saturday, Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said officers tried to detain a motorist who they believed had a warrant for an armed robbery shortly after 3 p.m.
Mauri and Murray got out of their vehicles in the 3200 block of Hillen Road and approached the vehicle.
Rochester got out of his car, too, only to return to the driver's seat. The two officers attempted to open the driver and passenger side doors with no success.
Rochester then tried to flee, and Harrison said he drove in the direction of one of the officers.
"What we saw on bodycam video just a few minutes ago is that there were two officers one on each side one at the [driver's side] door and passenger door, and one of our officers was approaching the front of the vehicle," he said. "The driver accelerated toward the officer who was in front of the vehicle, striking the officer as the officer was firing into the vehicle."
The officer fired his weapon before being hit by the car.
Harrison said body-worn camera footage shows the second officer ran on the sidewalk and fired his weapon into the vehicle.
Rochester was taken to a local hospital, where he later died.
Both Harrison and Mayor Brandon Scott said the police department had an increased presence in Northeast Baltimore on Saturday to address some of the armed robberies and carjackings that had been occurring in the area.
"Our officers were in this neighborhood today because of the armed robberies and carjackings that have been here over a period of time—where women and children, school children, have been robbed or carjacked," Scott said. "That's why they were here."
