MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Charges will not be filed against a Montgomery County police officer who shot and killed 30-year-old Finan H. Berhe in May, Howard County’s State’s Attorney’s Office said.
The Howard County’s State’s Attorney’s Office said they deemed Montgomery County police Sgt. David Cohen's shooting justifiable and reasonable following their investigation and review.
Officer Cohen shot and killed Berhe outside of his home in the 1500 block of Hadden Manor Court in White Oak, Md., officials said.
Around 2:15 p.m. on May 9, officers were called to the area of Berhe's home on a report of a knife-wielding man in a neighborhood parking lot who was causing a disturbance, police said.
Montgomery County police released body camera footage of the shooting.
Police said during a Friday news conference that witnesses and interviews corroborated with the body camera footage. Witnesses confirmed and told police that Berhe was holding a large kitchen knife and charged at the officer.
In the video, Cohen, a 17-year veteran, was first seen putting on a surgical mask before stepping out of his vehicle to confront Berhe.
The video then shows Cohen exiting his vehicle and pointing his gun at Berhe as he ran on the road towards Cohen and his police cruiser. Cohen turns on the audio of his body camera and is heard instructing Berhe to, "Put the knife down."
Cohen is then heard in the video telling dispatch that he has a person refusing to get down on the ground, later warning him to "get on the ground," several times.
"I don't want to shoot you," Cohen said in the video before Berhe ran towards him.
*Note: WUSA9 has made the editorial decision not to show the full body camera video in its entirety due to its graphic nature.
Cohen then fired multiple shots at Berhe.
According to police findings, Berhe told his neighbor, “I’m just ready to go” while holding this kitchen knife. When the police arrived and the officer asked Berhe to get on the ground he didn’t follow the commands, police said he then charged towards Sgt. David Cohen.
“The loss of life is always tragic and our heartfelt condolences go out to the Berhe family for the loss of their son Finan," Howard County State's Attorney Richard Gibson, Jr said. "The loss of life due to interaction with law enforcement has our and our society's full attention and focus, we are very much aware and insensitive to the national discussion that is going on addressing these very situations.”
Police said a witness who saw the shooting unfold, released a statement saying that he wished Berhe didn't do it, when explaining Berhe's actions.
The State’s Attorney's Office said there’s some talk of Berhe having a mental breakdown, but they said their investigation didn’t find anything conclusive of that.
“It’s our understanding, there was some talk Mr. Berhe suffered some kind of mental breakdown," Gibson said. "Our investigation did not find anything conclusive to support that fact. There's certainly some inferences you can draw from his actions, but there's no actual conclusive evidence that we found that showed that he was suffering from a mental breakdown or was undergoing mental treatment at that moment.”
The officer tried life-saving measures at the scene, officials said. Emergency crews took Berhe to a hospital where he later died.
Detectives said they reviewed all video footage, including the officers' body-worn camera footage, and all other evidence as part of the investigation. Upon the completion of the investigation, the findings were sent to Howard County’s State’s Attorney’s Office for review.
Cohen was placed on paid administrative leave pending the investigation, but officials said Friday he will return to duty and they are working on an assignment for him.
The investigation is now under administrative Internal Affairs review focused on whether or not Cohen followed procedure.
