Gordon Casey
Two Secret Service officers will face no charges for the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old man in April outside the Peruvian ambassador’s residence in Northwest D.C., authorities said Monday.
Gordon Casey was shot and killed by the officers on Garrison Street NW, in the Forest Hills neighborhood, after a report of a burglary in process early the morning of April 20. The family of Ambassador Oswaldo de Rivero heard windows being smashed, D.C.’s police chief previously said.
“After a careful, thorough, and independent review of the evidence, federal prosecutors have found insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officers used excessive force under the circumstances,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. said in a statement Monday.
There is insufficient evidence to pursue federal criminal civil rights charges or D.C. charges against the officers, prosecutors said.
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Secret Service officers responded to the residence and ordered Casey to drop a metal pole he was holding, but he refused, prosecutors said. One of the officers used a Taser on Casey, but it had no apparent effect, they said. Casey began swinging the pole at the officers and walking toward them, and they opened fire, prosecutors said. Casey was shot twice and died at the scene.
Neither the ambassador nor his family were hurt, the police chief and embassy said.
Casey had been having a mental health crisis after losing his job, his girlfriend told NBC Washington.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office and Metropolitan Police Department reviewed physical evidence, accounts from law enforcement and civilians, forensic reports and more, prosecutors said.
