No charges filed in police shooting
The Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office will not bring charges against a county police officer who shot and killed a knife-wielding man last November in Glen Burnie.
The prosecutor’s office cited a Maryland Attorney General’s Office report, released to the public Friday, that says officers had reason to believe there was an immediate threat to their safety during the Nov. 28 incident, making it “difficult to prove” any criminal charges against Cpl. Joseph Burger, who fired the fatal shots at 32-year-old Digno Ramon Yorro Jr.
“After reviewing all the evidence, it is clear to me that Officer Burger had a reasonable belief that his life was in danger and acted in self-defense when he shot Mr. Yorro,” Deputy State’s Attorney Brian Marsh said in an Aug. 15 letter. “Therefore, it is my conclusion that the actions taken by Officer Burger were justified and I recommend no criminal charges be considered against Officer Burger and the investigation be closed.”
The investigative report, drafted by the attorney general’s unit that investigates fatal encounters with police, says that Anne Arundel County officers responded to a Braden Loop townhouse after noon Nov. 28 for a residential alarm call. Police spoke with Yorro Jr.’s girlfriend, who said the homeowner, Valentina Yorro, was upstairs in her room and not answering calls or texts.
Yorro Jr., who was Valentina Yorro’s son, was present, and did not respond to officers who questioned him, the report says, adding that Burger told another officer that Yorro Jr. was “acting real funny” and had a knife. Both had identification cards that listed the townhouse as their current address, so officers left as they both appeared to have reason to be there, the report says. Police did not see Valentina Yorro during this encounter.
Officers returned less than an hour later when one of Yorro Jr.’s sisters, who lives out of state, called police to report her mother as missing.
When police arrived, Yorro Jr.’s girlfriend said her boyfriend had chased her out of the house with a knife and threatened her since officers were last present, that there was blood under the carpet, and that Yorro Jr. had tried to stab her when she tried to open the garage door.
She also told police Yorro Jr. had been in a fight with his mother the night before, the report adds.
The responding officers broke into the residence and saw Yorro Jr. carrying a knife.
They demanded that he drop it, or he would be shot with a beanbag, the report says.
Yorro Jr. ignored “numerous” warnings and commands from police to drop the weapon, and Officer Brian Cross fired a beanbag shotgun at Yorro Jr. four times and used a Taser on him, according to the report.
Yorro Jr. started to walk toward Cross and Burger while he was being Tased. Burger fired four rounds from his agency-issued handgun at Yorro Jr., according to the report. Yorro Jr. fell and dropped the knife, and officers handcuffed him.
“This act of advancing toward officers while holding a knife created a reason for officers to believe there was a threat of immediate serious physical injury,” the report says.
“At the moment he fired his gun, Cpl. Burger had no lesser level of force available that would have been appropriate,” state investigators added. “Seconds before Cpl. Burger fired, Mr. Yorro failed to obey numerous verbal commands to drop his knife and two types of less than lethal force … failed to subdue him.”
Police and paramedics attempted to aid Yorro Jr. while other officers entered the garage and found Valentina Yorro dead, covered with a “number of towels and blankets.” She was later determined to have died from “numerous lacerations and other injuries, including stab wounds around her head and neck.”
A police spokesperson said Friday that a homicide investigation remains ongoing into the death of Valentina Yorro, a 64-year-old mother of three and grandmother of six who volunteered at Oakwood Elementary School in Glen Burnie, working in classrooms with students with special needs.
Yorro Jr. was taken to an area hospital and declared dead. An autopsy determined he had died from three gunshot wounds, according to the report.
Shirley Yorro, one of Yorro’s daughters, previously said her brother, Yorro Jr., had long struggled with his mental health. Valentina Yorro had taken out a protective order against her son in 2020 for fear of him doing harm, citing his use of drugs, but later asked a judge to dismiss the order because her son had stayed away from her, she said during a court hearing.
The attorney general’s office released body-worn camera footage of the shooting in December.
The November police shooting was the first deadly police encounter in Anne Arundel County since a new law took effect in 2021 requiring the attorney general’s office to investigate such incidents.
Since then, the office’s Independent Investigations Division has taken on one other case from Anne Arundel. In January, county Officer J. Ricci shot and killed Dyonta Quarles Jr, who charged and punched Ricci and bit his hand as other officers attempted to handcuff the 20-year-old.
The division completed its investigation of Quarles’ death last month and forwarded it to the state’s attorney’s office on Aug. 30. A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office said it would release any findings publicly once the attorney general’s office releases its report to the public. Meanwhile, Quarles’ family has filed a wrongful death and civil rights lawsuit in U.S. District Court against Ricci and the county police department.