Fairfax County Police Watch: Hell freezes over! Ex-police officer indicted on murder charge in 2013 shooting

Originally published August 18, 2015 at 7:06 am Updated August 18, 2015 at 6:27 am

The Associated Press

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A former Fairfax County police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man as he stood inside his front door with his hands up in 2013 was indicted Monday on a second-degree murder charge, authorities said.

A special grand jury convened by Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond Morrogh returned the indictment against Adam Torres, 32, in the shooting death of John Geer of Springfield.

Torres fatally shot Geer, 46, in August 2013 after a report of a domestic dispute. Witnesses, including other officers, said Geer was unarmed and had his hands up when he was shot. Torres told investigators he thought Geer might have a weapon hidden in his waist.

Michael Lieberman, an attorney for Geer’s family, said the indictment is “a substantial step toward justice for John Geer. A Fairfax County jury will now be able to determine what’s fair and just, which is all the family wanted.”

Lieberman said he considered the charge appropriate for what he called an intentional shooting.

Police said Torres, who had been an officer since 2006, was fired on July 31. Police said Monday night that Torres turned himself in and is being held without bond in the county jail.

His lawyer did not return a call for comment.

Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler Jr. said in a statement, “We have great respect for the Special Grand Jury process, the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Fairfax County, and the criminal justice system as this matter proceeds.”

The chief’s statement continued: “The loss of life is tragic for all. We express our sympathy to the Geer family, support to our great community and the men and women of the Fairfax County Police Department.”

The charges came two years after the shooting, and Fairfax County faced intense criticism during that time for a lack of transparency about its investigation. U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, questioned county officials about their actions.

At one point, Morrogh asked federal authorities to investigate the case, because the county’s own lawyers advised police against turning over records sought by Morrogh. Police did not identify Torres as the shooter until after the family filed a civil lawsuit, and a judge ordered the county to turn over portions of its investigative files. Those documents showed that months before the Geer shooting, Torres had an angry “meltdown” during an incident at the county courthouse in which Torres cursed at a prosecutor and stormed out.

In April, the county agreed to settle the civil lawsuit for nearly $3 million, the largest in Virginia history in connection with a police shooting.

Morrogh finds cop he doesn’t love. In other news, hell freezes.

Probe of fatal police shooting goes to federal authorities

By Justin Jouvenal/Post

The Fairfax County prosecutor has turned over the investigation of a fatal police shooting of an unarmed Springfield man to federal authorities, citing complications with the five-month-old case.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh said the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia has agreed to continue the probe into the death of 46-year-old John Geer, who was shot during a standoff with Fairfax County police in August. No one has been charged in the incident.

“There is a conflict of interest that has arisen in the case,” Morrogh said Thursday. “And there is a second potential conflict of interest that has arisen out of my office. . . . This is the prudent thing to do.”

Morrogh declined to describe the nature of the conflicts because the investigation is ongoing. The U.S. attorney’s office said Thursday that it could not confirm or deny any investigation or comment on pending investigations.

Police went to Geer’s Pebble Brook Court home on Aug. 29 because of a report of a domestic disturbance. Geer’s father, Don Geer, said his son was upset because his girlfriend, the mother of his two children, had decided to leave him.

John Geer had thrown his girlfriend’s belongings in the front yard. She called police and told them that Geer had a firearm. Police said they tried for about 50 minutes to persuade Geer to leave the home, but he refused.

Don Geer said he watched the climax of the encounter. He said that he could not hear what officers were saying to his son but that he saw him standing with empty hands resting on top of a screen door at the home’s entrance.

At some point, John Geer began to slowly lower his hands and an officer opened fire, hitting Geer in the chest, his father said. Geer retreated inside and closed the door. A SWAT team eventually entered the home and found Geer dead.

Don Geer said detectives later told him that his son did not have a gun on him at the time of the shooting but that there was a holstered handgun a couple of steps from the front door.

Don Geer said it appeared to him that the shooting was unjustified, but he was unsure what to make of the probe being turned over to federal authorities.

“I don’t know whether that’s good or bad — if I had a better idea of why they are doing it, I could form an opinion,” he said.

Geer and friends of his son have been critical of how long the investigation has taken, but Morrogh said police and prosecutors were working to explore all the evidence. He did not think federal prosecutors would have to start from scratch.

“No one wants these things to linger on,” Morrogh said.

Our ink will outlast his career

Under the reign of former Chief of Police Rhorer the Fairfax County Police arrested a man for not wearing clothes in his house while he made coffee, set up an eye doctor on a gambling charge and then used the SWAT team to kill him. An investigation into the charge that the Doctor’s primary clients were cops has never been investigated. The police gunned down an emotionally unstable man because cop who shot him wrongly assumed the man was trying to escape. He wasn’t. The cops also shot dead four other citizens under highly questionable circumstances. The department under Rhorer was sued multiple times by citizens. So did they fire Rhorer? Naw they promoted him. According to news reports Rhorer draws a salary of $191,168 per year as Deputy Fairfax County Executive as well as a concurrent pension from the Fairfax County police of $173000 per year.

Occupation by force

According to the most recent U.S. Census figures, nearly one in five Fairfax residents (17.5 percent) is of Asian descent while Hispanics make up nearly 16 percent of Fairfax’s overall population. Those numbers drop considerably when applied to the Fairfax County Police Department, where only 4.3 percent of officers are Asian and 4.1 percent Hispanic. White officers make up 84 percent of Fairfax County’s 1,360-member police department, significantly higher than the county’s general population (54 percent white). Almost 90% of the force lives outside the county.