Montgomery County police officials said Monday that video examined so far does not show if the man officers fatally shot in a McDonald’s drive-through was pointing a handgun that was subsequently found on his lap.
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“In our body-worn camera footage, it is very difficult to see,” Montgomery Police Chief Marcus Jones said, adding that investigators have yet to speak with the four officers involved in the shooting Friday night in Gaithersburg.
He identified the shooting victim as Ryan LeRoux, 21, of Gaithersburg.
Jones declined to say whether all four officers had fired their guns or how many shots were fired. But Paul LeRoux, the slain man’s father, said that he met with detectives on Sunday night and that they told him 24 shots were fired over the course of several seconds by four officers.
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Paul LeRoux said detectives showed him about 25 minutes of video footage. At some point, according to video, an officer’s voice can be heard saying, “He has a gun,” according to the father.
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Detectives “believe” that Ryan LeRoux raised a weapon, his father said he was told, but he stressed that no video he watched actually showed this.
The only video he saw that shows his son at the time of the shooting, Paul LeRoux said, is grainy. It shows his son lifting his hand but nothing else is clear, he added. His son could have had a gun in his hand, the elder LeRoux said, but he could just as easily have been holding his phone or nothing at all.
“So far, they have been unable to prove to me that my son raised a gun,” Paul LeRoux said. “They have not proved to me that Ryan showed any reason to justify the amount of lethal force.”
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About 9:15 p.m. Friday, Montgomery’s 911 center received a call for a trespasser at the McDonald’s along Flower Hill Way in Gaithersburg, police said. The customer had ordered food in the drive-through, refused to pay and refused to move his car, police officials said.
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The first officer didn’t arrive until 10:28 p.m., Jones said, because the response was held “due to other priority calls for service” that night.
The first officer to arrive approached Ryan LeRoux’s white Honda CR-V, Jones said. The officer saw a man in the driver’s seat and a handgun on the passenger seat, according to police.
“The officer ordered the man to exit the vehicle at gunpoint and requested backup,” Jones said.
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The officer retreated, police said. The man didn’t get out. Other officers arrived. They began forming a plan to arrest the man, called for a crisis negotiator and were able to reach him on his cellphone.
“A sergeant on scene spoke with Mr. LeRoux on his cellphone and tried to convince him to exit the vehicle in a safe manner. However, he was not cooperative,” Jones said.
Just before the negotiator arrived, Jones said, “there was a use of force resulting in Mr. LeRoux behind shot by the officers.”
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The officers rushed in and rendered medical aide, as did paramedics called to the scene. LeRoux was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
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Police found a loaded Glock handgun on LeRoux’s lap, Jones said. He said the whole encounter — from the first officer’s arrival until the shots were fired — was about 30 minutes.
Jones said investigators reviewing body-cam footage are dealing with dark skies and a dark interior of the CR-V.
“We are working to ensure all video footage is recovered from the scene,” Jones said, adding, “We’re hoping that we’re able to see more.”
He said LeRoux appeared relatively calm during the encounter.
“We’re still doing a lot of follow-up to try to understand exactly what his state of mind may have been,” Jones said.
He identified the officers involved in the shooting as Sara Vaughan, Brooks Inman, John Cerny and Romand Schmuck. Jones said the four officers have not given statements to investigators, a delay afforded under Maryland law. “I want to make clear that body-worn cameras are a helpful tool, but they do not replace the human eye and what the officers actually saw,” Jones said.
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Ryan LeRoux grew up in Calvert County, Md., and graduated from high school in Anne Arundel County, where he played football, according to Paul LeRoux. “Ryan had a big heart. He was a caring, loving individual,” his father said.
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He said he has been in touch with Montgomery County detectives since Friday night and Saturday morning. On Sunday evening, he went to the police headquarters to speak with detectives about the case. He said he wants to see more video.
“I would like full disclosure — all the tapes from all the officers at the scene,” he said, adding, “There are a lot of questions I have.” He said his son’s gun was legally purchased for personal protection.
Another video from the scene shows the 21-year-old reclining in his car as the officers gathered, his father said.
“There was clearly an indication of someone with mental health issues, who was not responding to any commands,” Paul LeRoux said, adding that officers could have employed more effective de-escalation techniques.
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A grandmother whom his son was close to passed away recently, Paul LeRoux said. And he had lost his job because of the pandemic, he said. “He was in a bad place,” Paul LeRoux said.
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“They could have de-escalated this, and Ryan would still be with us,” he said.
He said the detectives would not give him any copies of the videos.
Jennifer Jenkins contributed to this report.
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