FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — No charges will be filed against the Fairfax County Police officers who shot and killed a man following a violent attack caught on video, which was later shared exclusively with WUSA9 last year.
The deadly encounter happened on May 11, 2023.
According to Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano, an officer was dispatched to a Citgo gas station along Richmond Highway in Alexandria to investigate a reportedly stolen U-Haul box truck.
The officer arrived in a police cruiser SUV with his body-worn camera activated. That is when a man, identified later as 38-year-old Brandon Lemagne, attempted to speak with the officer.
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Descano says Lemagne was initially cooperative with the officer, who told him that he would be detained as officers believed he had stolen a U-Haul. However, when the officer began to take out his handcuffs and call for more officers to come to provide backup, Lemagne reportedly lunged for the officer's gun and the two began to fight.
During the struggle, the officer told Lemagne that he was "not going to jail right now," to which Lemagne responded "your gun's taken."
Lemagne then pushed the officer into his cruiser through the opened driver-side door. The two continued to fight over the weapon as the officer continued to radio for backup. Shortly after making his last call for help, Lemagne hit the pedal of the police cruiser, which was still running and had been put in reverse. The car sped backward and hit another car before heading toward a nearby McDonald's. The cruiser eventually came to a stop after going over a curb, through a bed of shrubbery, and hit another parked car.
More officers arrived after the crash. The backup units heard the original responding officer's calls for help, including one indicating that Lemagne had managed to take the officer's gun.
Officer Christopher Grubb was the first to arrive. Descano said Grubb arrived just as the cruiser began speeding backward toward the McDonald's. Grubb ran toward the cruiser and, believing Lemagne had stolen an officer's gun while also unaware that the officer was still in the police-car, he began to shoot at the cruiser.
"Officer Grubb was unaware that [the officer] was in the cruiser, instead believing Mr. Lemagne had successfully stolen [the officer's] gun and cruiser, leaving [the officer] at the spot of their parking lot altercation, possibly suffering from a gunshot wound from the stolen gun," Descano said in a letter on Friday.
Officer Kenyatta Momon arrived as the shots were being fired. Descano said Momon ran to the car and noticed the original responding officer was pinned underneath Lemagne. He then pulled Lemagne from the patrol cat and away from the original officer and shot him.
Momon later explained that he was scared Lemagne would shoot him or others with the gun, he believed Lemagne had stolen from the original officer but that he had to pull Lemagne clear of the officer to make sure he didn't get hit in the crossfire.
"Officer Momon pulled Mr. Lemagne out of the SUV and fired his weapon within a two-second span," Descano's letter reads.
Lemagne later died from his wounds. An autopsy showed he was shot multiple times. Additionally, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Manassas, Virginia confirmed he had amphetamines in his system.
More than a year after the attack turned shooting, Descano announced that the responding officers would not face charges.
"My investigation leads me to conclude that Officers Grubb and Momon acted in an objectively reasonable manner, based on the totality of the circumstances, when they deployed their firearms at Mr. Lemagne," Descano wrote.
The Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney said his investigation included reviewing dispatch records, reports, interviews, body-worn camera, surveillance video from local businesses, and physical evidence.
"My review led me to conclude that at the time Officers Grubb and Momon discharged their firearms, it was objectively reasonable for them to believe that deadly force was immediately necessary to protect themselves and others," Descano explained. "Both officers reasonably believed Mr. Lemagne was armed with a deadly weapon he took by force from another officer and was driving an SUV in a reckless manner as a means of escape, which together threatened serious bodily injury or death to surrounding civilians."
Additionally, Descano pointed to Momon's actions after seeing the original responding officer pinned under Lemagne, saying it was reasonable for Momon to believe the officer was threatened with serious injuries or even death and that Officers Momon and Devanney would face those same threats after pulling Lemagne from the patrol car.
"These circumstances make it clear that Officer Grubb's and Officer Momon's response to the situation was objectively reasonable," Descano wrote. "Accordingly, I find no violations of criminal law on the part of Officers Grubb and Momon and decline to bring any criminal charges against these officers."