D.C. police announced Wednesday they had arrested a suspect in a fatal shooting that occurred last year during what authorities said was an apparent drug-related robbery in Friendship Heights, but prosecutors decided against pursuing the case before the man was arraigned in court.

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       The decision by the U.S. attorney’s office to not follow through on a murder charge filed by police came the day after detectives arrested 43-year-old Michael L. Tymas Jr. and published his name in a news release. Tymas’s attorney questioned whether police had sufficient evidence to make the arrest.

       Three months ago, Tymas sued the District, seeking the return of his Cadillac, which police seized at the shooting scene on Sept. 24, 2020, in the 5200 block of Western Avenue NW, and three cellphones detectives took during a subsequent search of his residence in Northeast Washington while investigating the homicide.

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       In the civil suit, which is pending, Tymas said police and other authorities had “sufficient time to examine the seized property and that there is no further need to retain” the items. A hearing on that case is set for Jan. 7.

       “The police have been working on this case for 14 months, and they don’t have enough evidence,” Tymas’s attorney, Douglas J. Wood, said Thursday. “I think they thought if they arrested him, he would make a statement and he would incriminate himself.”

       Bill Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office for the District, said only that the second-degree murder charge was “no papered,” which means dropped or not pursued. He said prosecutors “will continue to work the investigation” with police. He declined to say why prosecutors made their decision.

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       A spokeswoman for D.C. police declined to comment.

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       Prosecutors decide not to pursue criminal cases filed by police for a variety of reasons, such as concerns over evidence, procedural problems with an arrest or a determination the case is too minor to warrant further action. In some instances, criminal charges are refiled after additional investigation.

       Fatal shooting in Friendship Heights may be linked to robbery, police say

       But these type of issues do not routinely arise in more serious cases, such as those involving homicides, where prosecutors and detectives tend to work closely developing leads and evidence, and decisions to file charges are coordinated. Often, the arrests come only after a warrant is signed by a judge.

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       Police can make arrests without warrants, as they did with Tymas, based on what they view as sufficient probable cause. Those types of arrests are typically made in the immediate aftermath of an incident, such as when a suspect remains at the scene or is apprehended in the process of fleeing.

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       Tymas’s attorney said police have been investigating his client since the day of the killing more than 14 months ago, when they seized his Cadillac at the crime scene. Police said 20-year-old Tavon Brown from Baltimore was killed and another man was wounded in the shooting behind a single-family home near 45th Street and Western Avenue, three blocks from a shopping center and the Friendship Heights Metro station.

       Few details were made public at the time, but Peter Newsham, then the District’s police chief, said detectives were investigating “a potential robbery where marijuana was involved.” He said a weapon and evidence of drugs were found at the scene.

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       Wood said his client was in the area of what he described as a marijuana pop-up sales venue in the basement of a house that is now listed for sale. He said the venue was robbed; police said the men were shot in the parking area in the back and Brown was found on a sidewalk.

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       Wood would not say why Tymas was in the area. He also said he does not believe police have the firearm used to shoot Brown and the other man. “I can’t imagine they have good evidence against him,” the defense attorney said of his client.

       Wood said police searched his client’s residence on Oct. 26, 2020, looking for evidence in the homicide. Police said in a court affidavit they found three bullets in a box in the basement during that search, and arrested Tymas on a charge of unlawful possession of ammunition, a misdemeanor. That charge was dismissed a month later.

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       Wood said Tymas has repeatedly refused to talk with police. His lawsuit asks a judge to order police to return his seized property.

       The Office of the D.C. Attorney General, which represents the District in civil proceedings, is asking the court to dismiss Tymas’s claim, writing in a court pleading that police “may retain property that is being held as evidence until the conclusion of any related criminal proceeding.”

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       The pleading says it is up to prosecutors to determine when “the property is no longer needed for evidentiary purposes.”

       Wood said he will argue at the hearing in January that the U.S. attorney’s office has essentially closed the investigation on his client by declining to pursue the murder charge police filed Wednesday.

       “They arrested him and no papered the case,” Wood said of police and prosecutors. “It’s pretty hard to say this property has evidentiary value.”