By Tom Jackman and Christian Davenport | Washington Post
One after another, people began calling police yesterday, telling them a suspicious man was running through their neighborhoods in McLean and Arlington County. Their 911 calls led three Fairfax County police officers to a man suspected of robbing a bank minutes earlier, and when he disobeyed their commands to drop his gun, the officers shot and killed him, police said.
This morning, Arlington police identified the dead man as Hailu Brook, 19, of McLean.
The suspect had started running when his getaway car skidded off wet pavement in McLean, police said. He crossed into Arlington and was shot behind Williamsburg Middle School, they said.
“It was a good collaborative effort by everybody,” said Fairfax Police Chief David M. Rohrer, who arrived at the scene after the shooting. He lauded residents who kept police informed about the suspect’s whereabouts and cited “great work by the officers in locating the suspect.”
Because the fatal shooting occurred outside Fairfax, Arlington police will investigate and present their findings to Arlington Commonwealth’s Attorney Richard E. Trodden, who will decide whether the shooting was justified. Fairfax police will do an internal investigation. The Fairfax officers, who had not been identified, were placed on routine administrative leave with pay.
Police said the man walked into the BB&T Bank branch at 6620 Old Dominion Dr. in McLean, in the Chesterbrook Shopping Center, about 11:20 a.m. He brandished a gun and demanded cash. After getting some money, he left the bank, climbed in a car and drove down Old Dominion Drive toward Arlington, Fairfax Officer Don Gotthardt said.
But before he could reach Arlington, the man’s gold Honda sedan skidded off the wet road and into a ditch at Valley Wood Road, Gotthardt said. The man then ran away, first through the Franklin Park neighborhood in McLean and then into the Rock Spring neighborhood in Arlington. Police declined to say whether money or evidence from the robbery was recovered from the car.
Residents began calling 911 to notify police of the man’s whereabouts, Gotthardt said. Shortly after 11:30 a.m., several Fairfax officers spotted him in the 5300 block of North 36th Street, about 300 yards from the back of Williamsburg Middle School.
The officers — with three, nine and 22 years’ experience, Gotthardt said — saw the man holding a weapon. Gotthardt said he could not verify whether he pointed it at the officers.
But the man “disregarded commands, and that’s when the officers fired,” Gotthardt said. The man, shot in the upper body, was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they did not know how many times he had been shot or whether any shots reached the school.
The school was locked down for about an hour after police considered using its athletic fields as a landing spot for a helicopter to fly the suspect to a hospital. But the man died before a helicopter could reach the area, and the school went back to its normal schedule.
Gotthardt said the officers’ proximity to the school was “an obvious concern” before they opened fire. “I don’t know the officers’ mind-set, but the area behind the target is always considered,” he said. There is no official policy on withholding fire in a school area, he said.
Michael McDermott, 19, a student at Northern Virginia Community College, was working on a paper about the death penalty in his home when he said he heard gunshots. He looked out the window, saw a police officer running down the street and across his front yard, and grabbed a camera. When he popped his head out his front door, police yelled at him to get back inside, he said.
When he emerged several minutes later, dozens of officers had descended on the scene, and he saw them covering a body with a tarp.
A block away, Nancy Nakhleh, 45, was with her two children who were home sick from school. At first, she said, she thought the gunfire was bubble wrap being popped, but then she thought, “We don’t have any bubble wrap in the house.”
Or perhaps firecrackers? When she saw police swarming the street and lights flashing and heard a helicopter overhead, she knew it was gunfire, she said. Immediately, she feared something had happened at the school.
“I’m really grateful that this was totally random,” she said. “The biggest excitement around here is that someone gets egged or TP’d. It’s the kind of neighborhood where neighbors call and say, ‘Your son’s not wearing his bike helmet.’ ”
She was also thankful, she said, that with so many kids nearby at the school, no one else was hurt. “There are a ton of kids around here,” she said.
(Staff writer Jerry Markon contributed to this report.)
28 thoughts on “Virginia police shot and killed Ethiopian bank robbery suspect”
Whatever happened in Fairfax, that fateful day, we wouldn’t know for sure. Because the Police are used to shoot first and ask questions later in that part of the country.
May God have mercy on his soul and give strength to his family members and friends where ever they are.
Surely, Nineteen, by any measure , should not be an age to meet your Creator.
በለጋ እድሜው ተቀጨ:: 19 በጣም ወጣት ነው:: ለመላው ቤተሰቡና ጓደኞቹ ጥናቱን ይስጣቸው:: ያገሬ ሰው ሁላችንም ጥናቱ ይስጠን::
The use of force by the police in this instance might not be proportional. If it were proportional, the police men who did it would not have been put under administrative leave. I think the family of the teenager should make sure that the police acted legally. Are not there some Ethiopian practicing lawyers in Virginia who could take the case?
Bank robbery cases are under the jurisdiction of the FBI. So can the Virginia police take such action?
19! very sad indeed, just broke my heart. I pray for the family members. I do not understand why they were too quick to kill, he may have been a disturbed and scared young man.
This young man seemed to be loved by all his classmates. What led him to take a gun and scare the workers in the bank, rob the bank, disobey officers, and ultimately cause his own death is a mystery for now. Bottom line is that the officers could either die or shoot at him. They did not have time to ask him as he waved his gun around how old he was and if his classmates at Yorktown liked him. It is sad and very hard to place blame on the dead even though that is where the blame lies. I pray that his family may find peace and hopefully answers in why Hailu was driven to this point. RIP
Student replies:
March 22nd, 2012 at 7:45 PM
They did not have to shoot to kill. And no they did not have to ask
Him how old he was or if he was loved by his classmates but use
Their own common sense to not shoot a kid so many times. So no
You shouldn’t place the blame on the dead because you do not know
Where the blame lies.
Obviously this is a troubled kid, kids who seek the easy way out in life more often than not end up on the wrong side of the law. Every one has to be very careful before starting to blame the law enforcement because they are the once who stand between law and order and absolute KO if the criminals have their way. My condolances to the Brook family.
im lu’s friend from yorktown hs and im sooooooo sad he was such a nice person he went out his way to make his friends happy, al his teachers liked him, he made alot friends quickly, good to be around, good since of humor and the robbery was SOOO not in his character . . . i would have never guessed he would have done that. he must have felt no way out of his trouble he was in. . . i have been cryin every day since thursday when i found out. the person killed was him& wonder if i woulda talked to yu tuesday, then maybe something i coulda sed woulda stopped yu and yu WOULD STILL BE HERE . . . buh lu all i wana kno is why? . . .& i miss you so much! hope your in a better place and we will see each other face to face again oneday dont worry. . .R.I.P.
He was running towards a middle school with a gun. What were the police supposed to do?
የሀይሉ በዚህ እድሜው መሞት በጣም ነው ያሳዘነኝ። መሞት ያልነበረበት በጣም ጎበዝ እና ትሁት ልጅ ነበር።
እግዚሀብሄር ለቤተሰቦቹ መጽናናትን ይስታቸው እላለሁ
መስኪ
fairfax police are know for their rasict and rude officers , to cross another county’s jurisdiction and to kill a suspect is illegal you don’t need a law degree to know that , i’m getting mad and madder every moment, ethiopian community should be outragged by this slaughter and they are on leave and still gettin paid , they are probably drinking beer and watching sunday football bragging who got the kill shot.Internal affairs should do a thorough investigation about this officers , they are a disgrace to the uniform. Our ethiopian brother may have been hangin with the wrong crowd and got himself mixed up but that dosen’t mean he should be gunned down like a serial killer .
RIP my brotha
DANIEL FROM VA
i dnt care what anybody says the police did not have to shoot lu 20 times. . . you mean to tell me the police could not sedu a person standing in the middle of a field alone with one bullet to the leg &/or arm . . . no matter how yu look at it; 20 bullets was completely unjustified!
May the Lord be with all his loved once in DC, and in Addis…. My hart goes out to you all!!!! and If the police acted in any ways of wrong to this END, I pray God gives them the right punishment.
Rebeck
OMG I don’t even know what to say….20 shoots? 1st of who the hell do they think they are that they have the right to just empty their bullet on a teenage boy…please we are in the 21th century this bastards have to be investigated and the shooting has to be justified cuz this doesn’t make any sense, any sense at all for someone that was actually born with a brain in their skull.
And for those people who just talk BS before knowing anything…just shut your useless mouth, you know nothing this could have been your son, brother, cousin, friend or anyone you know. No one will know why Hailu did this, no one but the almighty God, may he have his mercy on him.
My heart goes out to his family and friends….I hope God gives them the strength to fight this untill the end and get justice and dignity of their son…Hailu, you will be greatly missed.
May your soul rest in peace.
If you live by the gun, you die by the gun. Rest in Peace.
Knew the kid personally and was like a little brother. It was wrong to shoot at him 20 times. Hes not even near a big dudes size. Kid was like 5’5. Whether he did it or not is now up in the air because they wont say if they ever even found a gun or any money. R.I.P Lu
I know this young man. this is not himself. He is mostly Quite and friendly as well. It should be some force which force him to do it. The polic shouldn’t do that, they should take him to under rest and investgate . I am very sad for family .
የሃይሉ በዚህ አሰቃቂ ሁኔታ በሞት መለየት እጅግ ያሳዝናል:: ለቤተሰቡ እግዚያብሄር ብርታቱንና ጥናቱን ይስጣቸው::
The Force that the police used is very bad, they shouldn’t kill this young man. They just could fire the stupied gun on the air so he would not dea. If it was a white man I am sure that they would not use that kind of force. It seems that they don’t care about this man. There are so many criminal in this country who did worse thing than him and are still alive. I fill very bad for his family and I am so disaponited with the action the police took. I hope You will never do this again.
I pray that god have mercy on his soul
All of thoser people complaining aobut the police using force seem not to understand that the armed suspect wsa giving ample warning to drop the weapon and surrender. He was running towards a SCHOOL. and yes, if they are going to shoot, they are going to shoot to kill, so be it one shot or 20, their intention is to kill the suspect and prevent him from harming the officers or other people. If a police officer believes deadly force is necessary they are then shooting to kill. and i for one am glad that they would not allow such a person to get to a school. who knows what would have happened if they were not able to catch him and end it there. maybe a hostage situation, maybe deaths of middle schoolers. so all of you who are bemoaning what the oficers did need to realize that u are putting the well being of one banks robber ahead of teh lives of hundreds of children, not to mention neighbors in the area. i agree that it is sad that the teenager was driven to do that, but that is the risk that a person is taking if they decide to rob a bank, and/or run towards a middle school armed with a gun. The police acted responsably to prevent any more tradgedy occuring on that day.
first of all R.I.P for my homie Hailu…hey Arlington whatever u calling ur sef…u don’t know what da hell u taking about, I cant believe u said they trying to make sure da school safe, comeon now dis mf they don’t gave a f about no body unless u a white boy…so u wrong man, if dat was ur bro u wid kill dis mf tomorrow. dis fairfax cops they been racist for years da matter fact va cops too, cuz dey harrased me so many times. but one day dey deserve what dey gone get. dis bastrads probably eating donuts and lough about what dey did for this kid…hey luv broth R.I.P.
justice need to be serve for this incident, I understand this cops they doing their job but they did not hire to kill, also to keep everyone safe, but they abuse their power, they cross jursidiction and they don’t have to shoot him 20 times. I know for the fact they gone to be inocent just like what happen NYC a year a go. hopefully this kid going to heaven because this cops took his life as well as his scene.
may his soul rest in peace! i’m sure police officers dont get a kick out of killing an innocent man. it’s not always about race. i have been trying to find where it says he was shot 20 times, anyone?
Oh My God I know him, he’s a quite boy and very friendly oh noooooooo what a sad thing that I just heard…. what can I say but May God have mercy on his soul and give strength to his family and friends.
he was not shot 20 times, although 20 rounds were fired, they did not all hit him, which is why they fired until he was no longer in a position to kill the officers or people in the area. he was actually hit only three times. and do not get me wrong, i bleieve this incident is tragic, but it is not the police officers fault that they did what they needed to do to protect the hundreds of children in a school which an gunman was running towards. and by the way, the fairfax officers did have permission to proceed into Arlington’s jurisdiction and continue their pursuit, so it was in no way an abuse of power to do so.
i understand people’s outrage at the situation, but you have to look at what the situation was: a person robbed a bank at gunpoint, and then ran towards a school. where is the racism that is being talked about? did police not shoot at the columbine shooters? they were white. if a person is going to run towards a school with a gun, police will shoot them, no matter who they are.
i dont belive what the racist cap said. he was running when they shoot his back.