Editor’s note: This article, originally published at 11:50 a.m. on March 25, 2025, was updated at 2:31 p.m. on March 26, 2025, to include comments from the Silver Spring Justice Coalition.
A Montgomery County police officer won’t be charged in the death of a Clinton, Maryland, man whom he fatally shot in May 2024 during a barricade incident in a Fairland residence, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown announced Monday evening in a news release.
The decision to not file charges against county SWAT Officer Edward Cochran in the death of Bishop Jones-Daniel, 28, comes more than six months after the Maryland Office of the Attorney General released body-worn camera footage of the fatal police-involved shooting. The office’s Independent Investigations Division investigated the shooting and concluded its investigation March 18, according to the release.
“After completing its investigation and evaluating all the available evidence, the Office of the Attorney General has determined that the officer involved in the fatal officer-involved shooting did not commit a crime under Maryland law,” the release said. “Accordingly, the Attorney General has declined to prosecute the officer in this case.”
Cochran is a 14-year veteran of the county police department and is assigned to the police department’s Field Services Bureau.
According to a report that details the division’s investigative findings, the office considered whether Cochran violated the state’s Use of Force Statute and if he should be charged with second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter homicide offenses. The Use of Force Statute “makes it a crime for officers to intentionally use excessive force,” the report states.
The report said Jones-Daniel “presented an imminent threat of deadly force … that required [Cochran], to resort to deadly force both for the subject officer’s own safety and the safety of others.” In addition, the report stated that a prosecutor would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Cochran’s use of force was not necessary to prevent an “imminent threat of physical injury to himself or another person.”
Regarding the homicide charges, the report said evidence showed that Jones-Daniel was the “aggressor.” The report stated that he was “armed, refused to leave his apartment or surrender his weapon despite ongoing negotiations, held a handgun for the duration of the incident, including when confronted by officers, and evidence suggests an exchange of gunfire with … officers.”
That evidence “provided a basis” for Cochran to believe that his life and the lives of the other officers and Jones-Daniel’s mother – who was standing next to him in the apartment bathroom when he was shot – were in danger, the report said.
Jones-Daniel’s family, in partnership with the Silver Spring Justice Coalition, a nonprofit social justice advocacy group, called into question the county’s crisis response protocols after the fatal shooting in July. Relatives say Jones-Daniel was experiencing a mental health crisis before he was fatally shot and alleged that the family’s requests for a mental health practitioner during the incident were not met.
Joanna Silver, a member of the Silver Spring Justice Coalition, said in a statement emailed to Bethesda Today on Tuesday that the coalition was “disappointed but not surprised” by the Attorney General’s decision.
“The Attorney General has brought only one indictment since its Independent Investigations Division gained the power to bring criminal charges in 2023 and its investigations have led to charges being brought by a State’s Attorney’s Office in only one case since the Division began investigating in 2021,” the Silver said. “We hope that Bishop Jones’ family will still be able to achieve some measure of justice through the civil court system.”
Silver also said the coalition hopes the case will prompt the county to “do more to ensure that people in crisis are treated with care by first responders, not killed.” She noted that the coalition was not aware if mental health providers played a role in the incident.
The incident began around 11:40 p.m. May 29 when police responded to a call from Jones-Daniel’s brother. The brother, who was able to exit the apartment, indicated that Jones-Daniel was acting “paranoid” and violent, their mother was in danger and he had heard gunshots in their apartment on the 3300 block of Hampton Point Drive, according to the 911 call and a press release from the attorney general’s office.
After arriving at the scene, county police set up a perimeter around the apartment and later “declared a hostage barricade and requested SWAT to respond” after hearing gunshots inside, the release said.
Police negotiators communicated with Jones-Daniel and his mother for more than an hour and at approximately 2:05 a.m. on May 30, SWAT officers entered the apartment, the attorney general’s office said. In the home, the SWAT team encountered Jones-Daniel and ordered him to drop his weapon as he stood in a bathroom next to his mother, according to video footage from the attorney general’s office.
When he did not follow commands, Cochran fired his gun more than a dozen times, striking Jones-Daniel, the video showed. After he was shot, officers called for medical aid and Jones-Daniel was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. His mother was also “treated and released at a local hospital,” the attorney general’s office said.
The family of Jones-Daniel waited about two months for the release of the body-camera footage of the incident. The video was delayed “due to additional time needed to conduct witness interviews,” according to the attorney general’s office. According to protocols, the attorney general’s office releases the footage 20 business days after the incident, but delays may occur.
This article will be updated.
