WASHINGTON — Federal authorities have announced that no charges will be brought against a D.C. Police officer who shot and killed a man in July of 2022.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia claimed Thursday that there is not enough evidence to pursue criminal charges against MPD Sergeant Reinaldo Otero-Camacho for his involvement in the shooting death of Kevin Hargraves-Shird, 31, at Fort Slocum Park in Northwest D.C.
Both the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Metropolitan Police Department worked together to conduct a comprehensive review of the incident. The review included law enforcement and civilian eyewitness accounts, physical evidence, body-worn camera footage, recorded radio communications, forensic reports, and more.
Around 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 30, 2022, Sergeant Otero-Camacho responded to a radio dispatch for a shooting that had just happened in the 900 block of Longfellow Street, near the Metropolitan Police Department's 4th District Station.
Investigators claim a person involved in the shooting, during which two juveniles had been shot, had gotten into a white car and fled. Sergeant Otero-Camacho saw the car attempting to flee and tried to conduct a traffic stop, to no avail, but he said the fleeing car refused to pull over. After a brief police chase, the car struck a curb near the edge of Fort Slocum Park.
During this time, a neighbor was hosting a party and had set up an inflatable moon bounce for several children attending the party.
When the car stopped, detectives say three men got out and fled. One man, Kevin Hargraves-Shird, also started to flee but returned to the car to retrieve something.
When Sergeant Otero arrived on the scene, Hargraves-Shird immediately ran. As the sergeant got out of his patrol car, he screamed "gun, gun, gun!" and discharged one round from his service pistol, striking Hargraves-Shird in the right ear.
On-scene officers attempted to provide medical assistance, unfortunately, Hargraves-Shird was transported to MedStar Hospital where he was pronounced dead later that night.
Police say a gun with Hargraves-Shird's DNA was recovered a few feet from where he fell to the ground. Although many witnesses at the party saw some aspects of what went down, the inflatable moon bounce blocked the majority of the view.
After an independent review of the evidence, federal prosecutors found insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Sergeant Otero-Camacho used excessive force under the circumstances.
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