When Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond F. Morrogh announced on Jan. 27 that his office would not file charges in the death of David A. Masters, shot by a still-unnamed county police officer, he offered this stunning summary of what happened:

“Unfortunately, we had a mentally ill man who was behaving bizarrely,” Morrogh said. “His family indicated he was behaving under delusions, that he might feel he was under attack if approached by the police. I think that’s the explanation for his actions.”

Morrogh’s speculative statement connects Masters’s mental illness to his actions immediately prior to the shooting, making this appear to be yet another tragic story about a “mentally ill man” who became delusional, paranoid and dangerous, and ended up being shot by the police. But this isn’t something that can be determined based on the evidence, something a prosecutor in particular ought to adhere to — especially when he’s justifying the police shooting of an unarmed man.

Story continues here ➤