DA: Police justified in shooting to stop man as he fired on officers, others near Raleigh middle school
Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman announced Friday that her office will not pursue criminal charges against the Raleigh police officers who shot and killed a man on the morning of March 27.
Police have said Jorge Luis Vega-Lesama was roaming a southeast Raleigh neighborhood near Ligon Middle School as students were being dropped off for classes, pointing and firing a gun at passersby.
"Mr. Vega-Lesama’s conduct posed a significant threat of death to those at whom he was shooting. Under these circumstances, law enforcement was justified in using deadly force against him," Freeman wrote.
Based on interviews with officers and witnesses, body camera and other video, the district attorney's office found Vega-Lesama fired his weapon multiple times at civilians before officers were able to stop him.
More than a dozen calls came in to 911 from that area on the morning of March 27.
Ligon Middle School was put on Code Yellow lockdown, with no one allowed into or out of the building, at 7 a.m.
The police report on the incident describes how officers tracked the shooter to the 700 block of Cumberland Street, and three officers – Sgt. R.A. Sirianna, his K-9 partner, M.L. Adams and P.J. Fernstrum – saw him outside a home at approximately 7:06 a.m. When they exited their vehicles, the man fired on them.
Sirianna told dispatchers, “[the] suspect is actively firing at us; we have no line of sight.”
When the man moved back into the sight of the officers, who had taken cover behind their vehicles, Sirianna fired four shots, including the shot to the head that killed Vega-Lesama.
