The U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday that it will not reopen an investigation into the case of two U.S. Park Police officers who shot and killed Northern Virginian Bijan Ghaisar in 2017.
A federal judge dismissed all charges against Alejandro Amaya and Lucas Vinyard in April after Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares filed a motion to dismiss the case.
Ghaisar, who was unarmed, was fatally shot in a Nov. 17, 2017 police encounter that began after Ghaisar was involved in a car accident with another motorist, who called 9-1-1. The subsequent police pursuit of Ghaisar ended when the two U.S. Park Police officers fired 10 shots at him, wounds from which he later died in the hospital.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA-08), Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Tim Kaine (D-VA), Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), and Reps. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA-10) and Gerry Connolly (D-VA-11) today issued the following statement on the Justice Department announcement.
“We are deeply disappointed in the Justice Department’s decision not to reopen the investigation into the killing of Bijan Ghaisar by U.S. Park Police. Nearly five years after he was killed, Bijan’s family, friends, and community still are no closer to an understanding of how the events of that night could justify his being shot to death by police. We are thinking of the Ghaisar family today, and will continue to stand with them in their pursuit of justice.”
Story by Chris Graham
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