28-year-old father fatally shot by police was experiencing mental health crisis, family and advocates say

Silver Spring Justice Coalition demands immediate release of body-worn camera footage

July 16, 2024 7:02 p.m.

Editor’s note: This story, originally posted on July 16, 2023, at 3:02 p.m., was updated on July 17 at 10:36 a.m. to reflect that there is a possible ambiguity in the number of children Jones-Daniel has fathered. This story also was updated at 10 a.m. on Aug. 1, to clarify that Jones-Daniel was a resident of Clinton, Maryland, according to an update from the Maryland Office of the Attorney General.

The family of Bishop Jones-Daniel did not think calling the Montgomery County police to their Fairland home on the night of May 29 would result in a “death sentence” for the 28-year-old man who relatives say was experiencing a mental health crisis.

Jones-Daniel, of Clinton in Prince George’s County, died at a local hospital after he was fatally shot by police who responded to a call from his brother about a “person in distress” in an apartment in the 3300 block of Hampton Point Drive, according to county police and the Maryland Office of the Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division, which is investigating the shooting.

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Reeling from the loss, family members are calling into question the county’s crisis response protocols and demanding the release of officers’ body-camera footage. The attorney general’s office announced July 1 that the release of the camera footage of the shooting was delayed “due to additional time needed to conduct witness interviews.”

Generally, the attorney general’s office releases the footage 20 business days after the incident, but delays may occur if investigators need more time to complete witness interviews, allow family members to view the video before it releases to the public or if there are technical delays, according to the office.

“Our family’s devastated,” Jamual Forrest, Jones-Daniel’s cousin, told MoCo360 Thursday. “His friends at the funeral, his extended family … like they were going through it. We were all going through it.”

Forrest said the most difficult thing to “comprehend” from the death of his cousin is that a person “going through a crisis is treated like they’re a dangerous threat to society.”

On Sunday night, which would have been the Jones-Daniel’s 29th birthday, his family and other community members held a vigil at the East County Community Recreation Center in Fairland. Attendees and loved ones lit candles, released balloons and made speeches in Jones-Daniel’s honor.

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Around 100 people attended a vigil for Bishop Jones-Daniel on the evening of July 14, what would have been his 29th birthday.

The family celebrated Jones-Daniel’s life and sought to bring attention to the case, which they and some social justice advocates say raises questions about how police handle mental health crises. About 100 people attended Sunday’s vigil, Montgomery Community Media reported.

LaTonya Jones, Jones-Daniel’s mother, spoke at the vigil about being “pushed” into the club of mothers of black men killed by police, according to a video of the event.

“I cannot ask to join this club. I don’t want to be in this club, but here I am … [There’s] so much I want to say that I probably shouldn’t, but I’m angry and I’m mad,” she said, choking on tears. “They took my baby from me.”

County Councilmember Kristin Mink (D-Dist. 5), who represents the district where the shooting occurred, attended the vigil to share her support for Jones-Daniel’s family and stand with those calling for “changes, reforms and justice.”

“Until we have a system that is reflected in the policies and the procedures, and the justice system and outcomes that reflects that level of value of life that is felt in that moment for every single person, including and especially our black men, we do not have a system that works, and we do not have a system that we will accept,” Mink said in the video.

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“We need to be investing in our communities, investing in education, investing in mental health, investing in opportunities, lifting people up,” she added. “And then we need to be responding to crises with love and care and in ways that prevent these outcomes.”

Jones-Daniel’s family, in partnership with the Silver Spring Justice Coalition, is urging the attorney general’s office to release the body-worn camera footage of the incident to the family and the public “immediately.” They also criticized the police response, alleging that the family’s requests for a mental health practitioner during the incident were not met.

The coalition is a group of “community members, faith groups, and civil and human rights organizations from throughout Montgomery County committed to eliminating harm caused by police and empowering those communities most affected by policing,” according to a press release.

Police spokesperson Shiera Goff referred questions about the fatal shooting to the attorney general’s office and did not provide details about whether the department’s crisis intervention team was at the scene.

A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office declined to share details about whether a crisis intervention team had responded.

According to authorities, county police responded at 11:40 p.m. May 29 to the Hampton Point Drive home for a dispute. The attorney general’s office stated in a May 30 release that the 911 caller said that “their brother was inside assaulting their mother and was armed with a gun” and had reported hearing gunshots.

After arriving on the scene, county police set up a perimeter around the apartment, according to the release. Officers at the scene heard gunshots inside, so they “declared a hostage barricade and requested SWAT to respond,” the release stated.

Following the call for SWAT officers, police negotiators communicated with Jones-Daniel and talks continued into the overnight hours. At approximately 2:05 a.m. SWAT officers entered the home, encountered Jones-Daniel and gave him commands, according to the release.

A county officer inside the home later identified by the attorney general’s office as Edward Cochran shot his firearm “multiple times,” striking Jones-Daniel. The release did not include details about what happened between the time SWAT officers gave Jones-Daniel commands and when the officer discharged his gun.

After Jones-Daniel was shot, officers “rendered medical aid” and called for emergency medical services, according to the release.

Jones-Daniel was taken to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead. His mother was also “treated and released at a local hospital,” the release said.

On June 11, nearly two weeks after the fatal shooting, the attorney general’s office investigative division publicly identified Jones-Daniel as the man who had been shot and the officer as Cochran. The officer has 14 years of experience and is assigned to the police department’s Field Services Bureau.

‘Going through something mentally’

Jamual Forrest of Bowie, Jones-Daniel’s cousin, told MoCo360 Thursday that a few months before the shooting he knew that his cousin “was going through something mentally.” During a brief phone call with Jones-Daniel the day before he was killed, Forrest described his cousin as acting paranoid and having difficulty establishing a “flowing conversation.”

A day later, after receiving calls from family members about the incident, Forrest was shocked to learn that a news article he had read earlier in the day about an unidentified man who had been shot and killed in Montgomery County was about his cousin.

“I’m in a state of … disbelief,” Forrest said.

Forrest, who spent his adolescence hanging out with Jones-Daniel on the weekends, described the loss of his cousin as a “50-pound kettlebell” sitting on his chest. Growing up, Forrest said they argued over whether the Washington Commanders or the Dallas Cowboys were better (Jones-Daniel preferred the Cowboys), getting snowed in during the winter and playing video games.

“I’m super depressed over it like I can’t really function, do my work. I try to fight through it. But that kind of grief, in terms of, like having everything bottled in … it’s been hard to deal with,” Forrest said.

Forrest’s mother, Judy Forrest, who also lives in Bowie, remembered Jones-Daniel as someone who showed up to the family dinners and holiday celebrations on Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Judy Forrest recalled how happy Jones-Daniel was upon graduating from Springbrook High School in Silver Spring in 2014.

“He was just a fun type of person. … He always kept in touch,” she said, describing him as a “respectable” and “good” person.

Jones-Daniel and his son, Isaiah.

More than a month after his death, the family and friends doing their best to be there for Jones-Daniel’s mother, brother and children, Forrest said.

Miguel Willis of Philadelphia, another cousin of Jones-Daniel and a lawyer and law professor, said he has been helping the family connect with “the best” legal representation and better understand the delay in the release of the body camera footage.

When asked about his cousin’s mental health struggle, Willis said he was unaware of it until the call he received about Jones-Daniel’s death.

“As a Black man in America, you know, I also struggle with mental health. I had therapy and stuff like that, but it’s hard. It’s hard to be a Black man in America … also with a lack of mental resources available to us,” he said.

Willis added that he “hopes this situation never happens again.”

“When a mother calls for … an emergency situation, that shouldn’t be a death sentence,” he said. “Montgomery County has to do better in terms of responding to [these] situations.”

Family members and loved ones are sharing their final goodbyes, memories, eulogies and photos on an online obituary and tribute page.

When will the footage be released?

When an officer is involved in a shooting, the attorney general office’s Independent Investigations Division (IID) investigates the incident, not local law enforcement authorities. Protocol requires the division to release the body-worn camera footage from the incident to the public within 20 business days after the incident, according to the division. Delaying the release of the footage is allowed for various reasons and the division must notify the public of the delay and why. In addition, the video is shown to the family before it is publicly released.

The Silver Spring Justice Coalition sent a July 3 letter to Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown and division Director Allison Green following the announcement that the release of the footage had been delayed. The letter demanded the body-camera footage be released “immediately” and noted Cochran was involved in a fatal officer-involved shooting of a man at a Fairland townhouse in 2018.

The Office of the State’s Attorney for Howard County later absolved Cochran of wrongdoing, stating that his actions were “justified under the circumstances,” according to a county police press release. According to the release, “agreement between the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Howard County State’s Attorney’s Office stipulates that when an officer-involved shooting involving injury or death occurs in one county, the other county’s State’s Attorney’s Office will review the event.”

Jennifer Donelan, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office, wrote in an email to MoCo360 that the office is “committed to releasing body-worn and dashboard camera footage.”

“In line with our established protocols, and in order not to jeopardize the integrity of the investigation, the video will remain delayed until the completion of witness interviews. As it is our standard practice, the video will be shown to the family before it is publicly released,” she wrote.

In response to questions about whether a mental health practitioner had responded to the scene, Donelan said the OAG’s independent investigative division was actively investigating and will not disclose facts related to the incident “to maintain the integrity of the investigation.”

Jones-Daniel’s family members and the Silver Spring Justice Coalition said investigators have not contacted his mother for interviews. Donelan wrote the division cannot discuss witness interviews while the investigation is ongoing.

“As a matter of standard investigatory protocol, we attempt to interview all relevant witnesses in our investigations,” she said.

Once the body-worn camera footage is ready for release, the Office of the Attorney General will issue a new press release about the incident, she said.

Sorrah Edwards-Thro, a member of the Silver Spring Justice Coalition’s mental health committee, has been working directly with Jones-Daniel’s family and advocating for the release of the footage.

Edwards-Thro told MoCo360 Friday that the fatal shooting of Jones-Daniel underscores a “systemic issue” in county law enforcement’s response to mental health incidents in the community.

According to its website, the police department has a crisis intervention team that responds to mental health crises and cases involving people with autism, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and intellectual and developmental disabilities. The county also has a separate 24/7 mobile crisis team that “responds to community psychiatric emergencies, along with the police,” the county website states.

Despite the resources available, Edwards-Thro believes the county must do more.

“We’re seeing this deadly pattern of [police] not using all the resources available and going towards people being met with bullets instead of care,” he said.

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