Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Washington Field Office, announced today that they were closing their seven-month long investigation and will not pursue criminal charges relating to the death of 14-year-old Deonte Rawlings, who died as a result of a fatal shooting by an off-duty member of the Metropolitan Police Department on September 17, 2007. The investigation revealed no evidence to support allegations that the officer committed a crime in shooting Mr. Rawlings. The decision was made after a thorough investigation and a careful review and analysis by experienced investigators and prosecutors of all the evidence.

During this investigation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, in conjunction with the FBI and with assistance from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Force Investigation Team (FIT), reviewed physical and forensic evidence as well as autopsy results, Shotspotter data, and firearms and paint analysis. Multiple neighborhood canvasses also were conducted during which numerous separate units in the neighborhood were visited by the FBI or MPD, and many individuals were interviewed.

Based upon a review of all the available evidence, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI’s Washington Field Office have concluded that the off-duty officer acted in self defense after having been fired upon by Deonte Rawlings. The investigation revealed that at least eleven shots were fired by both persons and that Mr. Rawlings fired the first shot at the off-duty officer while the officer was still inside his personal vehicle. After the off-duty officer got out of his vehicle and returned fire, Mr. Rawlings continued to fire several more shots. The off-duty officer returned fire, one shot of which struck and fatally wounded Mr. Rawlings. The entire exchange of gunfire lasted less than six seconds. This sequence of events was corroborated by Shotspotter data, witness accounts, and physical evidence.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI devoted many hours and significant resources to a complete and careful review of the events surrounding Mr. Rawlings’s tragic death. The decision not to pursue criminal charges is based on painstaking analysis of the facts developed during a lengthy and thorough investigation. The U.S. Attorney’s Office remains committed to investigations of this kind and stands ready to devote the resources required to ensure that all allegations of serious criminal and civil rights violations are fully and completely investigated. The Office aggressively prosecutes criminal and civil rights violations whenever the evidence developed in these investigations warrants doing so.

Officials from the U.S. Attorney’s Office met earlier today with representatives of Mr. Rawlings’s family to advise them of this decision.

This matter will now be referred to the Metropolitan Police Department for whatever administrative action, if any, it deems appropriate.