By Jeff Goldberg
SPRINGFIELD, Va. (WJLA) –
Nearly one year after a Springfield man was fatally shot by a Fairfax County
Police officer, the question remains: was gunfire justified? The case in
question is still open and unresolved.
On Aug. 29, 2013, John Geer was
shot and killed by an FCPD officer following a 50-minute standoff at his
Springfield townhome. The 46-year-old was unarmed.
The ABC 7 I-Team is
investigating why so many questions remain unanswered.
Investigators in the case have
made nothing public about their investigation, and have not said whether they
plan to charge the officer involved in the shooting.
But Brad Garrett, a former FBI
hostage negotiator and expert on criminal investigations, says the delay in
answers should not lead to conclusions.
“It does seem like a long time,
even to me,” Garrett said. “You can't assume because time has gone on that this
case leads towards we wanna charge him [or] we don't wanna charge him."
On the night in question, Geer
had been fighting with his common-law wife, who called 911. He admitted to police
he had been drinking and had a gun in the house, but not on him. Witnesses
report that at one point, while standing in the doorway, Geer slowly lowered
his hands before a gunshot was fired.
“Does it really fit the
parameters of a justifiable shooting?” Garret said. “At this point, we don’t
know.”
In February, Fairfax County
Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh turned the case over to the U.S. Attorney’s
Office, citing a conflict of interest.
Garrett says prosecutors may
still not have all the evidence they need to make a decision. Prosecutors are
likely interviewing witnesses and law enforcement, looking at the history of
Geer and the officer in question, and reviewing the circumstances—all to get it
right.
“Really, the last thing you
wanna do in a case like this, particularly involving police officers, is to
charge them, but you don’t have the back-up to potentially convict them,”
Garrett said.
Jeff Stewart, Geer’s close
friend, spoke with ABC 7 in February, expressing frustration felt by family and
friends over the waiting.
“At this point, we’re looking
for answers,” Stewart said. “We don’t know, because we haven’t been told
anything.”
The frustration is also shared
among Geer’s neighbors, like Chris Mizera.
“Something like that happens in
your neighborhood, you want answers, you wanna know exactly what happened,”
Mizera said. “And that hasn’t been answered yet.”
