Use of force was necessary in officer's fatal shooting of suicidal man, Harford County state's attorney says

Jun. 30—Harford County State's Attorney Albert Peisinger Jr. has determined that the fatal shooting by an officer of a suicidal man in April was "suicide by law enforcement" and that the use of force was necessary, he said in a letter sent to Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler on Wednesday.

John Raymond Fauver was fatally shot by Harford County deputies April 23 behind the Forest Hill CVS in the Bel Air North shopping center after displaying suicidal behavior and potentially having a gun in his possession.

A bevy of evidence was reviewed, including police body-camera footage, witness interviews and relevant Facebook posts, Peisinger said in the letter. The review led Peisinger's office to find use of force "necessary and proportional and not unreasonable under these circumstances," he said.

No members of the Harford County Sheriff's Office will face criminal charges from Peisinger's office for the incident.

Harford County State's Attorney Albert Peisinger has concluded that the actions of our deputies were both necessary and proportional and not unreasonable under the circumstances. The conduct of the involved deputies was ruled lawful. pic.twitter.com/FStGBvhbSv

— Harford Sheriff (@Harford_Sheriff) June 29, 2022

On April 23, Harford County sheriff's deputies were dispatched at 2:44 p.m. to deal with a "reportedly suicidal subject," according to the Harford County Sheriff's Office. Fauver, who police believed to have had a long gun at the time, was located by deputies in the Bel Air North Village shopping center behind the Forest Hill CVS, according to the sheriff's office.

Fauver was fatally shot by deputies around 4 p.m. He later died in a hospital.

Though few details of the police interaction with Fauver have been released, a spokesperson for the Harford County Sheriff's Office said in April that there was "at least one" person from its crisis negotiation team at the scene.

The investigation into the shooting sparked a debate between Gahler and Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh over a state law passed in 2021 that gave the attorney general's office the power to investigate such incidents.

Frosh sued Gahler for "interfering" with the state's investigation, prompting a Harford County judge to order the county sheriff to turn over all evidence from the fatal police shooting to the Maryland Attorney General's Office.

Frosh's office said Wednesday evening that the Independent Investigations Division of the Office of the Attorney General continues to investigate the shooting.

"The IID will continue to complete a thorough, independent investigation, as the Maryland legislature has charged us to do," the statement read. "The investigation includes information that has not yet been requested or reviewed by the Harford County State's Attorney's Office. When our investigation is complete, we will present it to the Harford County State's Attorney's Office and, when appropriate, release it to the public."