Video Of Police Shooting Only Fraction Of Evidence: Pima Attorney

TUCSON, AZ — Pima County Attorney Laura Conover promised not to make charging decisions based on emotions when it comes to the Nov. 29 shooting death of Richard Lee Richards at the hands of Tucson Police Officer Ryan Remington.

Remington shot at Richards, 61, nine times outside of Lowe's on West Valencia Road on the night of Nov. 29. Richards was hit in the side and in the back, according to police and video of the shooting released by Tucson Police. The video shows that Richards was in a motorized scooter, with his back to Remington when Richards was shot.

Remington had followed Richards to Lowe's from nearby Walmart after a Walmart employee had accused Richards of stealing a toolbox from the store, police said. Police say that Richards had a knife and told Remington and the employee while they were in the Walmart parking lot that they would have to kill him to get him to put it down.

Conover announced Friday that her office had received the bulk of the evidence its needed from the Tucson Police Department to begin reviewing the facts of the case and to begin its investigation.

“The video is jarring,” she said in a video posted to Facebook Friday afternoon. “And the video represents but a fraction of the evidence we must evaluate to determine if criminal charges are warranted in this incident.”

Police began termination proceedings for Remington the day after the shooting and then Police Chief Chris Magnus said that he was "deeply disturbed" by Remington's actions.

Conover stressed in her video that her office has an obligations to get these decisions right, not to rush and to ensure that Remington's constitutional rights are upheld.

Her office has convened a critical incident review group made up of her senior homicide prosecutors and other attorneys who have taken cases like this one to trial, Conover announced.

The group is set to review the evidence before the Pima County Attorney's Office decides whether to present the case to a grand jury for possible indictment.

Remington had been on the Tucson Police force for four years.

Mike Storie, the lawyer representing Remington on behalf of the Tucson Police Officer's Association, said that the video of the shooting and the events that led up to it released by Tucson Police did not show the entire picture of what happened on Nov. 29.

An important part of the video, in Storie's eyes, was edited out of the footage released to the public. That portion of the video shows Remington following Richards through the Walmart parking lot and across the street to Lowe's while trying to deescalate the situation peacefully by ordering Remington to give up the knife, Storie said.

Remington had no way of knowing, Storie said, whether Richards was actually physically disabled even though he was in a motorized scooter.

"How does he know this guy can't jump out of this scooter and all of the sudden charge somebody with this knife?" Storie said.

Storie claims that Remington shot at Richards because he believed there was an immediate danger to the public as Richards headed toward a Lowe's entrance, armed with a knife.