Coronavirus: 6 Police Officers On Administrative Leave Reinstated

HYATTSVILLE, MD — Chief Amal Awad of the Hyattsville Police Department directed six officers who were on administrative duty pending the investigation of a September 2019 fatal shooting, to return to active duty to offset staffing shortages due to the new coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.

"I made the decision to return the six officers to full-duty to ensure that the Department is able to meet the public safety demands of our City and that we are staffed to continue our law enforcement mission in the event any of our officers are affected by COVID-19," Awad said, in a statement. "The Department has been operating with minimum staffing for more than a year. We simply cannot afford to continue operating at these levels as it could compromise officer response times and the safety of our City."

City Administrator Tracey Douglas notified the Mayor and City Council on Monday of Awad's decision to return the officers to full-duty status. The officers were available to return to their respective patrol, investigative, and community services assignments as of Tuesday.

On Sept. 26, 2019, around 7:15 a.m., HPD officers responded to a coffee shop on East-West Highway and Belcrest Road, after a caller reported a man who had attacked an employee with a pipe three days earlier had returned to the store, according to a Prince George's County Police release.

The officers encountered Leonard Shand, 49, of no fixed address, who was armed with two knives. They asked him to drop the weapons. HCPD had also requested assistance from PGPD, who had responded to the scene. A Mount Rainer Police officer had also arrived to assist.

Over a period of 30 minutes, the officers attempted to de-escalate the situation. HCPD deployed Tasers three times and pepper spray, but all of those efforts failed. An HCPD officer fired four bean bags at Shand from a less-lethal shotgun, but Shand did not drop the knives.

While still carrying the knives, Shand charged an HCPD officer and all six HCPD officers along with three PGPD officers and one Mount Ranier officer discharged their service weapons, striking Shand. Although the officers deployed their trauma kits and performed CPR, Shand was pronounced dead on the scene.

Following standard operating procedure, all officers from the three jurisdictions were placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation by the PGPD's Special Investigative Response Team. At the time of Awad's decision, no updates were available on the investigation.