U.S. Marshals won’t face charges in killing of man in Virginia Beach

Holding two handguns, Hans Huitz confessed to murder as he was surrounded by Special Deputy U.S. Marshals when they attempted to arrest him in February near his Virginia Beach home, according to a report released Friday by the city’s top prosecutor.

“I killed somebody and I’m going to do 30 years,” Huitz, 51, told the marshals, who were officers from Montgomery County, Maryland, acting in Virginia Beach as part of the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force.

When Huitz pointed one of the firearms at the marshals, three of them fired a single shot in his direction, according to the report. One of the rounds struck him, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Colin Stolle, Commonwealth’s Attorney for the City of Virginia Beach, said Friday he would not pursue charges against any of the officers because their use of deadly force was justified.

Huitz moved to the city in 2014. He worked as a mechanic at a National Tire and Battery shop and lived with his wife and her family in Virginia Beach’s Ocean Lakes neighborhood, according to Virginian-Pilot archives.

In February of this year, marshals started surveilling Huitz’s home after he became the “main suspect” in the 1992 fatal stabbing and robbery of James Essel, a Maryland grocery store owner.

On Feb. 11, Virginia Beach detectives obtained a warrant for a DNA sample from Huitz. Using DNA technology and genealogy testing, Montgomery County detectives linked Huitz to blood recovered at the scene nearly 28 years prior.

The next morning, as Huitz was driving away from his home, marshals used four vehicles to block his path.

“Huitz immediately raised a handgun and placed it in his mouth as he saw the marshals,” the report said.

The officers identified themselves as police before engaging in a standoff that lasted eight to 10 minutes.

During the standoff, Huitz produced a second handgun then “started to take turns switching between putting one gun in his mouth and putting the other to his head,” according to the report.

Marshals said they tried to negotiate with Huitz. At one point, he lowered one of the guns to call his wife.

In an interview after Huitz’s death, his wife told detectives he had confessed to the killing, saying it had happened when he was drunk. She said he told her he couldn’t go to prison and that there was “only one way out.”

The marshals said during the negotiations they began to fear for their safety when Huitz started turning around in his car seat. They believed he was trying to locate the officers and said at one point he even used a flashlight.

Three marshals — Seargeant Brady Clouster and detectives Drew Abbamonte and Dominic Dinisio — each fired a shot, saying they feared for their safety and the safety of others, according to the report.

Two of the shots hit Huitz’s vehicle, the third hit him in the head, the report says. Huitz was pronounced dead at the scene.

A spokesperson for the Commonwealth’s Attorney says there isn’t body camera footage of the incident.

Two loaded handguns were found in Huitz’s vehicle, but the report says there was no evidence he’d fired either of them.

Stolle’s assessment said Huitz made it clear to his wife and the marshals that he had “no intentions of going to jail,” and that the marshals had reason to believe he could cause death or serious bodily injury to those at the scene.