No charges will be filed against Baltimore Police Department officers involved in the shooting death of 26-year-old Jai Marc Howell in May, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said in a news release Monday.
An investigation by the Independent Investigations Division, which is tasked with probing fatal encounters in Maryland, concluded that the officers did not commit a crime under Maryland law, according to the attorney general.
On May 12 at approximately 1:30 p.m., officers approached Howell on the 4600 block of York Road in Kernewood. Howell began fleeing, according to Police Commissioner Richard Worley, before drawing a gun and firing several shots, with multiple shots hitting a police vehicle.
Officers commanded Howell to drop the weapon and he did not comply, according to IID. Officers shot back and struck Howell. Medical services took Howell to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. No officers were injured in the shooting.
This is the fourth time this month that Brown has announced he will not seek charges in a case involving a fatal police encounter investigation. In addition to the fatal shooting in Baltimore, the cases declined in September include a fatal shooting in Charles County and two fatal collisions, one of which killed Gabriel Omar Castillo and Ezequiel Eduardo Garcia-Chicas in Baltimore.
It is also the 19th case of the year where the attorney general did not seek charges. Cases include the shooting death of a fleeing teenager, 17-year-old William Gardner, who was shot 12 times by a Baltimore Police officer .