Baltimore state’s attorney will not charge officer in 2022 shooting of anti-violence activist Tyree Moorehead
The Baltimore State’s attorney’s Office will not bring charges against the officer who fatally shot Tyree Moorehead last year as the Baltimore activist threatened a woman with a knife.
Baltimore Police Officer Zachary Rutherford fired 14 shots at Moorehead on Nov. 6, 2022, striking him 13 times, after Moorehead brandished a knife near a woman’s face.
Moorehead, 48, was a local rapper known for spray-painting the phrase “No Shoot Zone” at the sites of Baltimore murders. In the months before his death, family and friends said his mental health had declined and his behavior became increasingly erratic.
In a report from the Public Trust and Police Integrity Unit of the Baltimore State’s attorney’s Office, prosecutors wrote that Moorehead was threatening a woman with a large knife when police arrived, and that after officers ordered Moorehead to “get down,” he threw himself on top of her and held the knife near her face.
When Rutherford fired, he had a “reasonable belief” that Moorehead was armed and presented “an imminent threat to the life of the” woman, the office’s 16-page report said. The report said there was sufficient evidence to support that Rutherford ‘s use of deadly force was justified and that his decision was “objectively reasonable” to protect the woman from danger or serious injury.
The Maryland attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division, which investigates all fatal police shootings in Maryland and, on Oct. 1, will gain the power to prosecute officers, did not recommend if any officers should be charged its report released Tuesday. In a section of the report analyzing potential charges, investigators wrote Moorehead’s knife was 9 inches long and body-camera footage showed he was holding the weapon just inches from the woman’s face when Rutherford fired.
“There is no doubt that she was in imminent danger of serious physical injury or death when Officer Rutherford began shooting,” the state report said, adding there was “no reasonable alternative method” Rutherford could have used besides deadly force.
Rutherford joined the Baltimore Police Department on March 21, 2022, less than seven months before the shooting. Before that, he worked for the Maryland Transit Administration Police for three years. The Baltimore County Police Department hired him in June 2018, but he resigned before finishing the academy, according to the state report.
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The attorney general’s report separately analyzed Rutherford’s 14th shot, which the officer fired after pausing for about two seconds and saying “shots” into his radio. It would be possible to find that Rutherford’s final shot violated the state’s use-of-force statute, if prosecutors could prove Moorehead no longer posed a threat to police or the woman when Rutherford fired again, the report said.
At least five people, including Moorehead’s father, called 911 on Nov. 6 and reported Moorehead was brandishing a knife a woman near the corner of North Fulton and West Lafayette avenues.
The woman told investigators said Moorehead asked her for water, then dragged her into the street by her purse. He told her “I’m going to kill you, stop moving,” as she unsuccessfully cried out for help.
Officers arrived at 3:40 p.m. and saw Moorehead holding a knife near the woman, who was then sitting on the ground. When police yelled at Moorehead to “get down,” he instead lunged on top of the woman and held the knife near her face, according to the attorney general’s report.
Rutherford began shooting at Moorehead, who rolled off the woman and onto his back. After Rutherford had fired 13 shots, Moorehead reached out his right hand, holding the knife, while lying on the ground. After a two-second pause, Rutherford fired his 14th shot, yelled “shots fired, shots fired” and reloaded.
He continued to yell at Moorehead to “drop the knife,” which Moorehead did about 27 seconds after the final shot, investigators wrote. Moorehead was pronounced dead at 4:04 p.m at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
A ballistics review found 14 cartridge casings from Rutherford’s weapon at the scene. One of the 13 bullets found in Moorehead’s body was from a prior injury, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined.
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