The Associated Press
Seattle (AP) -- Seattle Police involved in the shooting death of a Pierce County Jail fugitive had reason to fear for their lives when they fired opened fire and killed him, an inquest jury has decided.
Ted Buck, a lawyer for the Monroe, Wash. police, said the jury’s decision Monday vindicated all four officers from the town who were involved in the raid in which Harold McCord Jr. was shot seven times.
Monroe police said they were pleased by the inquest jury’s decision, but not surprised.
“If there’s any serious consideration of criminal charges at this point, I’d be astounded,” Buck said.
The jury’s decision is not binding, and a decision on whether to bring charges against the officers is up to Snohomish County prosecutors.
Deputy prosecutor Mark Roe, who attended the weeklong inquest, said he would decide on charges in the next day or so.
“I was prepared to make it months ago,” Roe said, “but out of respect for the inquest process and the jury, I decided to wait.”
McCord, 36, a third-strike violent offender who was facing life in prison, was cornered in a relative’s apartment in Monroe on June 24, the day after he used a realistic-looking fake gun made of cardboard to flee from the Pierce County Courthouse in Tacoma.
Acting on a tip, police from Monroe and Bothell surrounded the building, yelled for him to surrender, then stormed inside.
McCord, hiding in the bathroom, shouted that he was armed before the officers opened fire, according to a report filed by the Snohomish County sheriff’s office. McCord died at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Police did not find a weapon, only a fake gun McCord is believed to have wielded during the raid.
In answering 41 questions, the six jurors unanimously agreed that McCord had an opportunity to surrender but never said he wanted to and did not act as though he would do so.
The jury also agreed that McCord told a sister he wanted to surrender but also found that neither she nor other relatives conveyed that information to police.
King and Snohomish county officials haggled over which county should conduct an inquest requested by McCord’s relatives. King County Executive Ron Sims agreed last November to order one.
Stephen Anderson, an attorney for McCord’s family, said police didn’t give McCord the opportunity to surrender.
“This gentleman told his sister moments before he died he wanted to surrender but he didn’t know how to surrender,” Anderson told KING-TV.