DOVER, Del. (AP) — Four Delaware police officers involved in the fatal shooting of a black man in a wheelchair will not face criminal civil rights charges, U. S. Justice Department officials said Friday.
Jeremy McDole, 28, was shot by Wilmington police in September 2015 after they responded to a 911 call about an armed man who had fired a gun.
A bystander’s cell phone video shows officers repeatedly telling McDole, a career criminal who was paralyzed in a 2005 shooting, to drop his weapon and raise his hands. McDole can be seen reaching for his waist area before shots erupt.
Officials from the U. S. Attorney’s office in Delaware, the U. S. Justice Department’s civil rights division and the FBI met Friday with McDole’s grandmother, sisters and attorneys who have represented the family.
McDole’s mother, Phyllis, who is being held at the state women’s prison awaiting a hearing next week on a violation of probation charge, did not participate.
“They said they left no stone unturned…. There simply wasn’t enough evidence there to sustain a criminal charge,” said attorney Thomas Neuberger.
Neuberger said he’s satisfied that the federal investigation was thorough, but the family is “very disappointed.”
City of Wilmington officials agreed last month to a $1.5 million settlement with McDole’s family and acknowledged that reviews of police policies will include training on de-escalation techniques. A federal judge will hold a hearing Tuesday to consider whether to approve the settlement.
Authorities said that after a detailed review of police reports, law enforcement accounts, witness statements, dispatch logs, physical evidence reports, the autopsy report and an enhancement of the cell phone video, the evidence does not indicate that the four officers willfully used excessive force.
Witnesses corroborated the officers’ claim that McDole failed to respond to commands and continued moving his hands around his waistband when the shots were fired, authorities said in a news release. The investigation also revealed that McDole’s DNA was on the grip of a handgun recovered from his waistband, and that there was gunshot residue was on his right palm and shirt sleeve, they added.
“There is insufficient evidence to disprove the corporals’ claims that they shot McDole in self-defense and in defense of nearby civilians and fellow officers…. The testimonial, video and physical evidence corroborates the corporals’ version of the events,” the statement said.
The Delaware attorney general’s office concluded in a May report that criminal charges could not be brought against the four officers. The agency’s investigation found that six officers at the scene all reported seeing a gun in McDole’s pants after he was shot. Investigators determined that the same gun had been reported stolen.
A detective said in a court affidavit that officers found a .38 caliber revolver with four spent casings and two live rounds in McDole’s underwear. Officials also have said toxicology tests found evidence of marijuana and PCP, or “angel dust,” in McDole’s bloodstream.
The attorney general’s report cited an unnamed individual who told investigators that on the morning of the shooting, he had wheeled McDole to the “Browntown” section of Wilmington so that McDole could get a gun and PCP-laced cigarettes.
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A judge has agreed to allow two witnesses to be questioned ahead of the murder trial of Robert Durst, accepting prosecutors’ claims that the pair fear the real estate tycoon might have them killed.
Los Angeles Superior Court judge Mark Windham said the two witnesses would be questioned on February 14 and their taped testimony could be used at a later hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence for Durst to stand trial.
Of the two witnesses, only one — Albert Kuperman — has been identified.
Windham ordered prosecutors to submit to Durst’s defense team the identity of the second witness by the end of the month so they could prepare for questioning.
The 73-year-old Durst, who appeared at Friday’s hearing in a wheelchair and whose bizarre life was the focus of an HBO series, stands accused of the December 2000 execution-style killing of longtime friend Susan Berman.
Berman was killed just as she was set to be questioned by authorities on the disappearance of Durst’s first wife, Kathleen Durst, who vanished in 1982 from the couple’s New York cottage.
Kuperman, a doctor who is in his mid-80s, is believed to have spoken with Kathleen Durst around the time she disappeared.
Prosecutors had appealed to the judge to expedite the questioning of Kuperman and the other witness on grounds they feared they “might be killed” ahead of the preliminary hearing on whether Durst should stand trial.
They noted that Durst “is a menace to society” and had a history of violence, including the 2001 death of a neighbor in Texas who was found dismembered.
At the time, Durst was living under an assumed name in Texas and pretended to be a mute woman, prosecutors said. He claimed self-defense and was acquitted after a high-profile trial.
– ‘Client not a threat’ –
Responding to the filings by prosecutors in Los Angeles, Durst’s defense team argued that there was no evidence he could harm anyone. They told the judge that their client had health problems and his calls in prison were monitored.
Prosecutors told the judge that the taped testimony of the two witnesses would only be used should one of them die or disappear before the case comes to trial.
Durst was arrested in March 2015 in a New Orleans hotel room hours before the final episode of the six-part HBO documentary “The Jinx: The life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” which delved into the disappearance of his wife as well as the killing of Berman and the Texas neighbor.
In the documentary’s explosive finale, Durst is heard muttering to himself, “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course,” apparently unaware that a wireless microphone remained switched on while he used the bathroom.
“There is it, you’re caught,” he said at another point. “What a disaster. ”
He was sentenced to seven years in prison on a weapons charge following his arrest in New Orleans and, as part of a plea deal, was transferred to Los Angeles in November from a prison in Louisiana.
The real estate scion, who is worth an estimated $100 million, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Berman.

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A 36-year-old man has been charged with killing a 19-year-old whose remains were discovered last May in Thatcher Woods in west suburban River Forest.
Carlos Martinez-Rodriguez is charged with first-degree murder and was denied bail Friday at a hearing at the Maybrook Courthouse in Maywood, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office.
On May 30, 2016, sheriff’s police detectives began a death investigation after two hikers came upon plastic bags that contained human remains near the trail in Thatcher Woods at Thatcher Avenue and Division Street, the sheriff’s office said. One of the bags contained clothing and the other had the remains of a man in an advanced state of decomposition.
The man was identified as 19-year-old Fernando Casas of the 1800 block of North 39th Avenue in Stone Park, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy found he died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen and his death was ruled a homicide.
Detectives identified the shooter as Martinez-Rodriguez, who was last seen with Casas, the sheriff’s office said. An arrest warrant was issued for Martinez-Rodriguez on Sept. 6 and he was found living in New York City.
Martinez-Rodriguez was returned to Cook County on Thursday, the sheriff’s department said. He is expected to return to court on Monday.

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UNION CITY, N. J. (CBSNewYork) — Shocked relatives of alleged Fort Lauderdale airport gunman Esteban Santiago did not know what to make of the massacre Friday.
As CBS2’s Jessica Moore reported, the FBI talked with Santiago’s aunt and uncle — Hernan and Maria Rivera — in Union City Friday night. Police and the FBI were searching for anything that could possibly help them make sense of the senseless crime.
“May God have mercy on his soul,” Maria Rivera said in Spanish.
Neighbors on 20th Street in Union City were also shocked.
“I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was someone I didn’t even know. You know what I mean?” said neighbor Felix Martinez. “Little did I know it was somebody that I knew. So it was just like, wow.”
“They’ve got to be heartbroken,” said neighbor Daniel Bayon. “I mean, I can only imagine what they’re thinking.”
Santiago was born in New Jersey, but spent most of his time in Puerto Rico before moving to Alaska.
There, he served with the Alaska army national guard until his discharge in August for “unsatisfactory performance.”
Santiago spent nine years in the military , serving a tour of duty in Iraq. His brother, Bryan, told the Associated Press he was receiving psychological treatment.
Maria Rivera told NJ.com that her nephew “lost his mind” in Iraq.
Investigators said a fight with someone onboard that flight to Florida may have sparked the violence inside the airport.
Law enforcement sources told CBS News he traveled from Alaska to Minnesota and then from Minnesota to Florida. The second leg of the trip was on a Delta flight.
“There’s not really much I can say any more about this. I’m just basically shocked,” Martinez said. “That’s all I can say.”
“I mean, I do feel bad for them, and it’s got to be crushing for their family to be going through something like this, you know, sort of crisis,” Bayon added. “I mean, this is the type of thing that affects the whole family.”
Agents questioned the Riveras for about 20 minutes before moving onto their next stop in what promises to be a long and emotional search for answers.
Five people were killed and eight more were injured in the shooting at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport Friday afternoon. Santiago was taken in custody afterward.
Federal investigators say they have found no known links to terrorism, though FBI Miami Special-Agent-in-Charge George Piro said terrorism has not been ruled out.

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