from 17 feet away, telling investigators that he saw Geer move hishands to his waist and thought he might be reaching for a weapon,according to newly released documents from the county. The other three officers, and a lieutenant watching from a distance, said they saw no such thing, the documents show.Howand why Geer died that afternoon in August 2013 after police respondedto a domestic dispute at his home have remained a mystery, as police andprosecutors have declined to comment on the case for 17 months. ButFriday night, www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/judge-orders-fairfax-coun for the Geer family, Fairfax released more than 11,000 pages of documents that shed new light on the police shooting. The other officers contradicted apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/local/police-transcript-in-jo , all agreeing that Geer had his hands above his shoulders, did not move them to his waist and was unarmed when he was shot. apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/local/timeline-events-leading Detailed hourly events on Aug. 29, 2013. Thedocuments also show that Torres was involved in an argument with hiswife in the 16 minutes leading up to his arrival at Geer’s home that mayhave caused him to miss key facts about Geer and the situation at thetownhouse. He also did not issue a warning to Geer before he pulled thetrigger. “When the shot happened, his hands were up,” Officer Rodney Barnes, apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/local/statement-from-officer- at the moment of the shooting, told investigators that evening. “I’mnot here to throw [Torres] under the bus or anything like that, but Ididn’t see what he saw.” The documents, which include policeinvestigative reports, transcripts, timelines, photos and dispatcheraudiotapes, indicate that Torres said he considered Geer “a crediblethreat,” because he had placed a holstered gun at his feet at thebeginning of the standoff. But the other three officers toldinvestigators that they never considered firing at Geer. “It’s not good,” Officer David Parker, apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/local/officer-david-parker-tr 15 feet behind Torres, told investigators. “He killed that guy and he didn’t have to.”ButTorres said he thought Geer could have had another weapon hidden at hiswaist. “It was not accidental,” Torres told investigators. “No, it wasjustified. I have no doubt about that at all. I don’t feel sorry forshooting the guy at all.” The files also reveal for the firsttime why the Fairfax prosecutor shifted the case to the U.S. attorney’soffice in Alexandria: an internal affairs investigation into a loud,angry “meltdown” Torres had in the Fairfax County Courthouse. In thatincident, five months before the Geer shooting, Torres repeatedly cursedat an assistant county prosecutor and stormed out of the courthouse,according to the prosecutor’s statement included in the releaseddocuments. But county police refused to make the internal affairsfile available to Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond F. Morrogh. Afrustrated Morrogh has said he www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/local/wp/2014/02/07/five-months because he was unable to get anywhere with the Fairfax police department.John B. Geer (Photo by Jeff Stewart) MikeLieberman, an attorney for the Geer family, said: “If this was asimilar situation involving two ordinary citizens, there is little doubtthat any individual who shot an unarmed man who was holding his handsup in the air and claiming that he did not want to hurt anyone wouldhave been arrested and charged. “Within days of the shooting, thepolice department, at the highest levels, knew of the grossdiscrepancies between Officer Torres’s version of the events and theaccounts provided by every other eyewitness.” Torres has notspoken publicly since the shooting, and he did not return e-mail andphone messages Friday. His lawyer, John Carroll, also did not returnmessages. Sharon Bulova, the chairman of the County Board of Supervisors, declined to comment on the case.Geer’sfather, Don Geer, also witnessed the shooting from behind a police lineand said the police statements corroborate his own account. “Fourofficers saw the same thing I did,” he said. The family, onbehalf of Geer’s two daughters, has filed a wrongful death suit againstthe county. “John had his hands above his shoulders and he was unarmed,”Don Geer said. “And there was no justification for Officer Torres toshoot him. I think they should go through and press charges againstTorres and let the legal system do what it does.”His ‘hands were up’ Thepolice documents paint a vivid picture of a tense 44-minute showdownbetween Geer, 46, and the officers who had come to resolve a domesticdispute between Geer and his live-in partner of 24 years, MauraHarrington. The couple, who had two daughters together, had just had anargument over the phone, and Geer had begun throwing some ofHarrington’s belongings onto their front yard. Harrington came home andcalled 911. WhenTorres, then a 30-year-old officer with seven years’ experience, andOfficer David Neil arrived at 2:52 p.m., Geer immediately turned andwalked inside the townhouse. As the officers approached, Geer held up aholstered handgun and, according to both officers, said, “I have a gun; Iwill use it if I need to because you guys have guns.” Torresquickly ducked behind a tree trunk 17 feet from the front door, pulledhis gun and aimed it at Geer. Neil pulled his gun but kept it pointeddown. Geer soon placed his gun on the ground, and no officer saw itagain, according to their statements. Five minutes later, Barnes arrived. Neil went to a nearby townhouse to interview Harrington.Barnes,a 49-year-old former Navy seaman, was a trained negotiator who was onpatrol that day. He began to develop a rapport with Geer, and he toldinvestigators that he felt Geer was comfortable with him, the recordsshow. Geer kept his hands on top of the storm door and repeatedlydeclined Barnes’s requests to come out, the officers reported. Instead,Geer repeatedly asked Torres to lower his weapon. Torres did so, butwhenever Geer announced that he had to scratch his nose, Torres wouldrefocus his aim on Geer’s chest, the documents show. OfficersParker and Benjamin Kushner arrived next and took up positions behindvehicles in the townhouse community’s parking lot. Parker had a rifleand Kushner had a shotgun, the reports said. Each said they kept theireyes trained on Geer, with Parker telling investigators, according totranscripts: “I never even took my gun off of safety.” They said theycould hear the conversation between Barnes and Geer, and both Parker andBarnes recalled Geer saying he did not want to get shot. Meanwhile,Neil interviewed Harrington and radioed his findings to the otherofficers. Geer had “made comments that he’s 45 seconds from putting abullet in his head,” Neil told his fellow officers, according to thetranscripts, “and he told a friend of his that he had a gun and he mightdo a suicide-by-cop type of situation. Be advised.” Neilalso reiterated Harrington’s statement that she made in her 911 callthat Geer had other guns, including a handgun and a rifle, in the house,“so there might be some more weapons inside the house as well.” Torreswould later tell investigators that he did not hear any updates fromNeil’s interview with Harrington about Geer’s state of mind or that hehad other guns in the house. But at 3:34 p.m., as Barnes wasstill talking with Geer, Torres squeezed his trigger and shot Geer,surprising the three other officers, the documents say. Geer closed thefront door,and Barnes and Torres darted to the side of the townhouse.“Who shot?” Barnes said he demanded angrily. “I did,” Torres said hetold him. “I’m sorry.” But police, unsure whether Geer was aliveand armed, did not enter the house for 70 minutes, until the SWAT teamarrived with an armored truck and battering ram. When the tacticalofficers entered, Geer was dead just inside the front door. Torres said he fired because Geer had been complaining about being thirsty “and then . . .he brought both his hands down really quick near his waist, and Ipulled the trigger one time, and hit him under his right rib cage.” HomicideDetective John Farrell, who was the lead investigator into theshooting, asked whether the shot was accidental. Torres emphasized thatit was not. “He brought his hands down too far,” Torres said. Barnestold investigators that Geer’s “hands were up.” Parker toldinvestigators that Geer “started to move his left hand barely off thesill of the door.” Kushner said Geer’s hands were “right around his facearea.” Lt. Ronald Manzo, who also was at the scene, said Geer’s handswere at “about his shoulder height.”Investigation begins Aspolice investigated the shooting, detectives questioned Torres aboutwhether there were any other reasons he might have shot Geer, therecords show. The detectives learned that immediately after theshooting, Torres told Barnes that he had been arguing with his wife onthe phone as he drove to the call. The argument may have caused Torresto miss key facts about the situation that had been broadcast bydispatchers, the documents show, such as the warning that Geer had otherweapons in the house. Farrelland his partner, homicide Detective Chris Flanagan, pressed Torresabout the phone call with his wife: “Do you shoot Mr. Geer becauseyou’re angry at your wife?” Farrell asked him, a transcript shows. “No,” Torres replied. “Not at all.”Butthe investigation continued to delve into Torres’s background as thecounty prosecutor considered whether to seek an indictment. Inparticular, Morrogh was aware of Torres’s blowup in the courthouse withan assistant prosecutor five months earlier. The prosecutor was ChuckPeters, a former Fairfax deputy police chief who became a lawyer afterhe retired. In March 2013, while handling a drunken-driving casebrought by Torres, Peters told the officer that there were problems withthe case. Torres repeatedly cursed at Peters and then stormed out ofthe courthouse. Word of the incident reached police headquarters, andPeters told investigators that five top police commanders called him toapologize for Torres’s outburst. An internal affairsinvestigation was launched, but the outcome is unknown. When Morroghrequested the file in the fall of 2013, the police department refused togive it to him. In January 2014, he sent the case to the U.S.attorney’s office in Alexandria, who also ran into resistance from theFairfax police, the Justice Department said. The case is still beingreviewed by the Justice Department’s www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/local/wp/2014/12/08/after-15-mo , with no known resolution date. Lieberman,the Geer family lawyer, said, “It is hard to believe that a Virginiastate grand jury has not been presented with this information and thatit took Fairfax County 17 months to disclose this information to theGeer family.”