Maryland AG clears officers in fatal Columbia shooting of autistic man

Maryland AG Anthony Brown will not charge Howard County officers who shot and killed Alexander Lamorie, a man with autism, in Columbia on 1 March 2026.

No charges for officers who shot autistic man twelve times in Columbia parking lot

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown announced he will not bring criminal charges against the Howard County Police Department officers who shot and killed Alexander Lamorie, a man with autism, on 1 March 2026 in Columbia, wbal.com reports.

Officers responded to 6441 Freetown Road after Lamorie himself called 911 to report he was being harassed and blackmailed. On the phone, he made suicidal statements to dispatchers. When officers arrived at the Patuxent Commons complex, they located Lamorie in the parking lot holding a knife.

According to police, Lamorie did not comply with orders to drop the weapon and moved toward the officers. Three officers opened fire, striking him multiple times. First aid was rendered on scene, but Lamorie was pronounced dead before medics could transport him.

The Attorney General's Independent Investigations Division (IID) concluded that the officers had not committed a crime. The division's finding effectively closes the case without prosecution.

Father condemns decision as a step backward for crisis response

Lamorie's father released a detailed written statement rejecting the IID's conclusions. He said the report itself confirms that responding officers knew his son was experiencing a mental health crisis before they reached the scene — yet arrived without appropriate equipment or a plan suited to a behavioural-medical emergency.

"They came to the scene completely unprepared, without the proper equipment, the proper plan, and treating Alex's life-threatening behavioural-medical crisis like a crime," the father wrote.

He pointed to one exchange among officers on the night of the shooting as particularly damning: an officer asked on site whether anyone had a taser. The father said this demonstrated that the team had no less-lethal options available, leaving a lethal response as the only tool at their disposal.

"Responding to a known suicidal crisis without less-than-lethal options limits the opportunities for a life-preserving approach," he wrote. "This is the definition of gross negligence, and, in our opinion, warranted a charge of involuntary manslaughter."

He described his son as a young adult with a developmental disability who had recently moved into Patuxent Commons — a housing complex in Howard County specifically designed for people with disabilities — just days before his death. Lamorie had been targeted by a cyberscam, the father said, which triggered the shame and despair that led to his 911 call.

Family demands unreleased security footage be made public

A central concern raised by the family is the existence of building security footage from Patuxent Commons that, they say, has not been released to the public, the press, or the family itself. The IID's report acknowledges that investigators received and reviewed exterior and interior surveillance video from the complex.

The father said a credible eyewitness recently told the family that the footage shows Lamorie sitting calmly on a bench near a police car before the shooting, and that the first officer who spotted him gestured repeatedly across a pathway, waving Lamorie toward the group of officers — which Lamorie did — before he was shot.

"If the Independent Investigations Division was established to promote transparency, independent review, and public accountability, then those principles are best served by allowing the evidence to speak for itself," the father wrote.

He stated that the family has been denied access to reports and evidence throughout the investigation, receiving significant information only through media coverage and edited body-worn camera footage released by authorities. The IID's published report runs to only ten pages.

The father is formally requesting the release of the full interior and exterior building surveillance footage from either the IID or Patuxent Commons management.

Broader implications for crisis response policy

Beyond the specific case, the father argued that the decision sends a damaging signal at a time when suicide rates in Maryland are rising. He contended the outcome undermines state efforts to build evidence-based, humane responses to behavioural health emergencies, and poses particular risks to vulnerable populations including military veterans, rural residents, and people of colour.

"Rather than advancing safer, evidence-based responses to behavioural health crises, it represents a step backward," he wrote.

Attorney General Brown has not publicly responded to the family's statement. The Howard County Police Department has not issued additional comment beyond the earlier account of events on 1 March.

Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)