Fairfax County Police Watch: December 2023

FCPS, FCPD accused of tipping off teen murder suspect about DC Police investigation

by Tom Roussey

Fri, December 8th 2023, 10:53 PM EST

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WASHINGTON (7News) — In court filings, a D.C. detective accused Fairfax County’s police and public schools of essentially tipping off a teen murder suspect that police were investigating him. But police and the school system are firing back, saying it would not have been safe to allow a murder suspect to keep coming to school.

24-year-old Diamonte Lewis was shot and killed outside Nellie’s Sports Bar at 900 U Street NW a little after 3:30 a.m. October 21.

D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department later released video of three suspects, and in a court filing this week police identified one of them as 16-year-old Ashton Inabinet of the Mt. Vernon area of Fairfax County.

They said surveillance images show him firing a gun, and he continued to fire even as Lewis was falling, then took a bag from him.

After putting out the surveillance video on October 31, D.C. Police said on November 14, they received information that led them to look into a West Potomac High student in Fairfax County. On November 28, a school resource officer there identified the student as Ashton Inabinet.

A D.C. detective writes in court papers that on that same day, the high school told county police to go to Inabinet’s residence to ban him from school.

Seven days later on December 5, police executed a search warrant at the home. They said a 9mm pistol was used in the homicide, and although at the home they found five 9mm pistols and some 9mm cartridges, they could not find a 9mm cartridge of the same brand as cartridges recovered from the homicide scene. They also said they found an empty gun box hidden under a dog cage. A D.C. detective wrote in court papers she was concerned Inabinet had had time to remove evidence:

“It should be noted that the Defendant was essentially tipped off by School Officials and Fairfax County Police without coordinating with D.C. Homicide. On Tuesday, November 28, 2023, West Potomac High School ordered Fairfax County Police to go to the defendant’s residence and notify them that the defendant was not allowed to return to school in reference to a D.C. Investigation. This information provided the defendant approximately a week to remove evidence from the residence, such as clothing, 9mm semi-automatic pistol, and/or 9mm ammunition of the same brand as used during the homicide.”

But Fairfax County Police said it wouldn’t have been safe to allow Inabinet to keep going to the school:

“MPD homicide detectives appeared at a Fairfax County high school on Tuesday, November 28, interacted with a School Resource Officer and stated their intention to eventually pursue criminal charges against a Fairfax County high school student for a recent firearm murder in their jurisdiction. MPD detectives had not yet obtained criminal charges. We delivered a letter authored by Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid banning the student, a murder suspect, from school until we received further information. This is a preventive action we own and stand by. The Fairfax County Police Department has a duty and responsibility to protect our students.”

Fairfax County Public Schools also put out a statement attributed to Superintendent Michelle Reid:

“The safety of our schools remains our top priority and we will always act swiftly to protect our students and staff. We continue to work collaboratively with Fairfax County Police, who are partners in this work, and we are in agreement with their statement...”

Also, surveillance images allegedly of Inabinet had been out for weeks before the 16-year-old was banned from school, so he may have already suspected police in D.C. were investigating him.

D.C.’s chief did not comment on her detective’s accusation the boy was tipped off by Fairfax County when asked about it at a press conference Thursday morning.

“In all fairness to the investigation we’ll let that play out and if there are some things that we need to do better on our end, obviously we’ll do that,” Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith said.

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.