The Maryland Attorney General’s Office on Monday released body-camera footage of the fatal police shooting earlier this month of an autistic man who had called police informing them he was in a suicidal crisis.
Videos recorded by Howard County police officers who officials said were responding to Alex LaMorie’s call early on the morning of March 1, which involved an alleged extortion scheme, show them walking through the halls of Patuxent Commons, a housing community for Maryland residents with autism or other disabilities. LaMorie had recently moved into a new apartment there. When they reached his home, the 25-year-old was nowhere to be found. Instead, the officers located a phone, a wallet and a set of keys.
The group of four officers split up, calling out for “Alex” while searching the building’s stairwells, lounge and outside areas, while some stayed behind in case LaMorie returned.
Then a call came through the radio: “Hey, we got — this guy’s coming at us with a knife,” an officer said, as heard in one of the recordings.
Inside an elevator, one officer asked another if he was equipped with a Taser.
“No,” he responded, indicating that another officer had one.
Outside the apartment complex, one officer, identified in the footage as Joseph Riebau, talked to LaMorie from a distance.
Riebau told LaMorie that they did not want to hurt him and that things would get better. More officers joined the scene. That’s when LaMorie began walking toward them while holding the knife down by his side.
“Stop,” Riebau yelled. “Please don’t make me do this.”
The other officers drew their weapons, too, walking backward with their guns pointed at LaMorie as he continued walking toward them.
“We’re getting cornered,” one officer said. Others shouted, “Drop the knife!”
Barefoot and wearing a T-shirt and basketball shorts, LaMorie never lifted his arm to point the knife in their direction.
Then, three officers fired their guns. LaMorie fell to the ground, while the calls of “Drop the knife!” continued. The officers attempted medical aid until paramedics arrived, according to the attorney general’s office. LaMorie died at the scene.
Howard County police declined Monday to comment on the footage, referring questions to the office of Attorney General Anthony G. Brown, which said in a news release that an investigation is ongoing.
Earlier this month, Howard County officials said the 911 call by LaMorie revolved around an alleged extortion scheme.
At a March 12 news conference, Howard County Police Chief Gregory Der said 911 dispatchers received a call from LaMorie before midnight on Feb. 28.
LaMorie said he believed that he was the victim of “an extortion scam,” after exchanging personal information and photos online with someone who claimed to be a young woman, Der said. He said he was then threatened by this person to pay money, or else the exchanges would be released.
Der said his department is familiar with extortion cases against people with disabilities.
“We have also seen incidents where individuals with intellectual, developmental disabilities are targeted by these criminals. These situations can produce intense feeling of fear, embarrassment and shame,” Der said at the March 12 news conference. He added that police are investigating the alleged extortion and hope to identify those responsible “and hold them accountable through criminal charges.”
At the complex, around 12:20 a.m. on March 1, LaMorie appeared distraught.
“I wake up feeling like s— every day,” he told Riebau.
“It’s really not this bad,” the officer said, asking him to drop the knife. He declined.
“I don’t care. I don’t want to live anymore. I want to be free of my pain, man,” LaMorie said. “I want to be free of my pain.”
At one point, just before he began walking forward, LaMorie lifted his arms, telling the assembled officers to “go ahead.”
Howard County police have previously said two of the officers at the scene were trained to be members of the department’s crisis intervention team, while one was a specially trained negotiator. About 80 percent of the department’s officers have received the 40-hour training that teaches how to “more effectively and safely interact with people with mental health issues,” the department said.
Howard police also partner with the Grassroots Crisis Intervention center and Humanim to staff two mobile crisis teams, in which mental health professionals respond with officers to “incidents of longer duration.” They did not respond to the call at Patuxent Commons, police officials said.
“This is never the outcome we want to see,” said Der at the March 12 news conference, adding that the county’s officers are trained “far beyond state requirements.”
At the same news conference, Howard County Executive Calvin Ball said the county is working to improve how it responds to incidents involving people experiencing mental duress. “Systems must continually evolve, and we must always be willing to ask, ‘How can we do better?’” he said.
Police are increasingly being asked to respond to behavioral health crises, Ball said. During the past five years, Howard County police have addressed more than 5,000 emergency petition calls involving people threatening to harm themselves or others. “In the vast majority of those cases, the outcome has been safe,” he said.
The county is now “exploring the expansion of less-lethal tools,” including purchasing more Tasers and reviewing new technologies and best practices, Ball said.
He said he wants increased awareness of programs “that can help first responders better understand the people we all serve.”
One such initiative is the confidential 911 flagging program, which allows families to voluntarily share information with law enforcement about residents who have special needs.
Ball also said the county’s Department of Housing and Community Development is working “to expand awareness of residential communities and facilities that serve adults with disabilities” with first responders.
“Our police officers are called upon every day to make difficult decisions in situations that can change in seconds,” Ball said. “Incidents like this remind us that we must continually strengthen our systems so that encounters involving people with disabilities are handled with the greatest possible level of understanding, patience and specialized response.”
Those who knew LaMorie say he regularly used his voice to advocate and offer support for other autistic people.
He spoke on podcasts and gave interviews and presentations as an advisory board member for the Autism & Grief Project, an effort from the Hospice Foundation of America for autistic adults who are dealing with loss, foundation President Amy Tucci said in a March 4 statement. LaMorie often teamed up with his mother, a licensed therapist who specializes in grief counseling.
In a written Q&A with Autism Speaks, a national advocacy organization, LaMorie said he liked to write action and horror stories, inspired by Iron Man and Captain America. He also detailed his struggles after being formally diagnosed with autism at 13, including times he was hospitalized after a severe mental health crisis.
Being autistic, LaMorie said, “I hear things, see things, feel things that other people don’t, both in a good way and a bad way.” Still, he said, “autism makes me unique, and it’s helped me meet a lot of the people I care about.”
LaMorie earned an associate’s degree from the University of Maryland Global Campus. He wanted to pursue either a bachelor’s degree or a certificate in IT, said Ami Neiberger, a close family friend.
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