Prosecutors announced Wednesday that all law enforcement officers who fired their weapons during a shooter’s attack inside the Washington Navy Yard last year have been cleared of criminal wrongdoing.
As part of a standard review of officers’ use of force during the September siege, prosecutors reviewed the actions taken by responding officers to determine whether they were lawful. Agencies from across the District descended on the Navy Yard after naval contractor Aaron Alexis opened fire inside the facility, eventually killing 12 people and injuring another four.
Alexis, 34, was killed in a shoot out with some of the responding officers.
Those who were cleared in the shooting include two Naval Criminal Investigative Service officers, two Naval District officers, one Metropolitan Police Department officer and one U.S. Park Police officer, said Bill Miller, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“After a careful review of the evidence, we have closed this investigation,” U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. said in a statement issued Wednesday. “We concluded that the law enforcement officers involved demonstrated exceptional valor in acting to protect the lives of Navy Yard employees and other responding law enforcement officers.”
• Andrea Noble can be reached at anoble@washingtontimes.com.
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