Bodycam footage shows man’s fatal bus stop encounter with police near Montgomery Village Plaza

Body camera and dashcam footage released by state officials Friday shows a Montgomery County man’s roughly 20-minute interaction with police at a bus stop in Gaithersburg that turned fatal.

Officers approached Elliott Powers, 46, of Rockville, at the bus stop in front of Montgomery Village Plaza in the 9600 block of Lost Knife Road around 6:45 p.m. July 12, according to the Maryland attorney general’s office.

In video footage, Powers, dressed in black, is seen seated at the bus stop. He reaches into a black backpack for something officers say is a gun.

“No, no, no, no, no,” Sgt. Christopher Leach, a 14-year veteran of the Gaithersburg Police Department, is heard telling Powers as he pulls back and retreats behind a cruiser.

Leach urges the man to show his hands. He alerts other officers for backup.

“Y’all fucking with the wrong person. Y’all need to get the fuck,” Powers tells officers.

Leach orders a nearby officer to communicate with Powers. Footage does not identify the officer because he did not discharge his weapon.

The officer is positioned toward the front of the cruiser while Leach hovers near the back. Both aim their guns at Powers.

“We can’t have you out here with a gun with all these people around,” the witnessing officer says. “Work with me, partner.”

In a back-and-forth, Powers tells the officers to shoot him, but the witnessing officer says he won’t do that. Leach calls for a negotiator, but it’s unclear if they made it to the scene before the shooting occurred.

The witnessing officer continues to try reasoning with Powers.

“Come on, Elliott! Don’t do anything stupid. Let’s work through this,” he says. “We want to see you here tomorrow.”

Nothing seemed to resonate with the man, though. Officers briefly discuss how to safely detain Powers because he was armed.

Powers seemingly reaches into his bag again, and officers shout at him before several rounds of gunshots.

He was fatally shot by Leach and Montgomery County Police officers Andrew Hanko, Michael Wengloski and Robert Bullock, and Gaithersburg officers Carissa Fortin and Noah Whelan, the attorney general’s office said.

Video footage shows nearly a dozen officers rushing toward Powers, removing him from the bus stop bench, to render aid.

The man died on the scene.

The Independent Investigations Division of the AG’s office is reviewing the incident — as it does all police-involved fatalities in the state.