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Norton Statement on Killing of Bijan Ghaisar, No Charges Filed by DOJ

November 14, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today issued a statement on the Justice Department's announcement that it would not charge the U.S. Park Police officers involved in the November 2017 killing of Bijan Ghaisar.

"Based on the publicly available information, the shooting appears completely unjustified," Norton said. "Bijan did not appear to pose a threat to the officers when they shot him. I urge the Park Police to immediately begin an administrative investigation into the shooting to determine whether these officers should be disciplined or fired."

Since the shooting, Norton and Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA) have introduced bills to require uniformed federal police officers to wear body cameras and to require federal police officers to participate with local and state task forces, regardless of whether those local forces wear body cameras. Since the latter bill was introduced, the Justice Department announced a pilot program for body-worn cameras by federally deputized task force officers.

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