By Police1 Staff
URBANDALE, Iowa — Three officers were cleared of deadly force in a fatal February shooting of an armed homicide suspect, The Des Moines Register reported.
A grand jury declined to indict Sgt. Jeff Casey and Officer Anthony Brooks for their role in suspect Ali Eisa Abdalla Yahia’s death. Officer Justice Weaver was also cleared in the investigation. She was present but did not fire her weapon, police spokesperson Gary Lang told the news site.
The Feb. 13 incident occurred when police responded to a hang-up 911 call from a Holiday Inn. Officers called the front desk and employees asked them to come in due to the strong scent of marijuana coming from one of the rooms.
When they arrived, they found three suspects in the hotel lobby. One suspect, Yahia, was armed with a weapon and resisted arrest, KCCI reported.
Body camera footage shows Yahia becoming agitated as Brooks asks to see his ID. He shoved the officer and was subdued by police. Although he was handcuffed, he held a gun and fired it, nearly hitting Casey.
An ECD failed to incapacitate Yahia, and when he turned towards officers, they fired. He was killed from six shots to the torso — five by Casey and one by Brooks.
“I know these people, and I know that’s the last thing they wanted to do,” Lang told the news site.
Yahia was later identified as the sole suspect of a homicide case when his blood matched DNA at the scene of a murder, KCCI reported. Police were sent for a welfare check on Jan. 24 and found 71-year-old Norma McNeeley dead in her basement. Police found evidence from the murder across the street.
The other two suspects were not injured and later released without charges.