MoCo Police Officer Justified In Fatal Shooting: State

FAIRLAND, MD — State prosecutors on Monday said a Montgomery County police officer was justified in fatally shooting a man during a standoff at a home in the Fairland neighborhood of Silver Spring in May 2024.

The Independent Investigations Division of the Maryland Attorney General's Office said Monday no charges will be filed in the shooting death of Bishop Jones-Daniel, 28, of Clinton.

Officers responded to a home in the 3300 block of Hampton Point Drive in Fairland around 11:40 p.m. on May 29 after a person called 911 and told dispatchers his brother, Jones-Daniel, was armed with a handgun and assaulting their mother. The caller also reported hearing gunshots.

About 2:05 a.m., after several hours of unsuccessful telephone negotiations, tactical officers entered the home and encountered Jones-Daniel holding a handgun. Officer Edward Cochran fired his service weapon multiple times, striking Jones-Daniel, according to a statement from Attorney General Anthony G. Brown.

Jones-Daniel was treated at the scene, and then taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Officer Cochran has been employed by the Montgomery County Police Department since July 2010. At the time of the incident he was 35 years old.

When Jones-Daniel's brother called 911, he told dispatchers his mother was in the residence with Jones-Daniel.

“My brother is being schizophrenic and needs immediate help right now,” the 911 caller said and he added that Jones-Daniel was being violent.

The news release said that during the call, two loud bangs were heard that the caller identified as gunshots stating, “I don’t know if my mom’s OK.”

After talks between a police hostage negotiator and Jones-Daniel failed to free his mother, tactical officers were ordered into the house. Officer Cochran kicked a bedroom door open, to find Jones-Daniel and his mother standing in the bedroom’s ensuite bathroom.

When officers entered the bedroom, state officials said Jones-Daniel held a handgun in
his left hand, and his mother was confined by his left arm. Officers repeatedly ordered him to “drop it,” but at 1:56 a.m., Cochran fired his service weapon 13 times, with nine bullets striking Jones-Daniel.

He fell back onto the bathroom's toilet; a knife was found on his lap.

No other officers fired their weapons, the report said

Officers provided first aid to Jones-Daniel, who was taken to an area hospital and pronounced dead.

Jones-Daniel's mother was also taken to the hospital, where she was treated and released, prosecutors said.

The medical examiner determined that Jones-Daniel suffered ;nine gunshot wounds to his chest, abdomen, upper back, and both arms, that multiple gunshot wounds caused his death, and that the manner of his death was homicide.

The Office of the Attorney General determined Officer Cochran did not commit a crime under Maryland law, and Brown declined to prosecute the officer.