Search fatalities

John Fitch

Age : 21

Gender : Male

Race : Unknown

Date : 09/14/2021

Location : Vehicle located after search originating in the 2300 block of Purple and Gold Way

City : Harrisonburg

County : Rockingham

State : Virginia

Agency : Harrisonburg Police Department; Goochland County Sheriff’s Office; Virginia State Police

Officer(s) :Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Suicide

Event : Suicide under police duress

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 09/15/2021, 21-year-old John Fitch of Henrico County was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound inside his vehicle after a multi-agency police search that began with an incident in Harrisonburg the previous evening.
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At approximately 8:00 p.m. on 09/14/2021, a Harrisonburg Police Department officer responded to a residence in the 2300 block of Purple and Gold Way after police received a report of threats. The officer was standing on the front porch speaking with the person who made the complaint when police alleged that Fitch, who knew the complainant, drove past the residence and fired at least a dozen rounds from his vehicle toward the house.
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Multiple bullets struck the residence close to where the officer and complainant were standing. The shooting prompted Harrisonburg police to issue a shelter-in-place order for the surrounding neighborhood for approximately 90 minutes while officers secured the area and searched for Fitch.
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Harrisonburg Police Department detectives identified Fitch during the investigation and obtained warrants charging him with attempted capital murder of a police officer and attempted capital murder. Police then began a broader effort to locate him.
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The search expanded well beyond the Harrisonburg Police Department. Agencies assisting included the James Madison University Police Department, Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office, Goochland County Sheriff’s Office, Henrico County Police Department and Virginia State Police.
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Through the investigation, Harrisonburg detectives developed information concerning Fitch's location and directed the Goochland County Sheriff’s Office, assisted by Virginia State Police, to where he was believed to be. Shortly after midnight, officers located Fitch inside his vehicle. He was dead from what authorities described as an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
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No police gunfire was reported as causing Fitch's death. His death occurred, however, while multiple law-enforcement agencies were actively searching for him and attempting to apprehend him on warrants obtained after the Harrisonburg shooting. His death therefore qualifies for this database as suicide under police duress.
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The incident date for database purposes is 09/15/2021 because Fitch's fatal self-inflicted gunshot and discovery occurred shortly after midnight, although the police encounter that triggered the manhunt began at approximately 8:00 p.m. on 09/14/2021.
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The two links supplied for this update appear to have become problematic over time. The original WHSV URL now returns a missing page, while the WRIC page is no longer readily retrievable. Contemporary WHSV reporting preserved under a different URL establishes Fitch's identity and the sequence leading to his death.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
No police officer shot John Fitch. Because Fitch died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, there is no shooting officer requiring an individual officer-background investigation.
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The agency history nevertheless contains a noteworthy fatal-force record. Harrisonburg Police Department officers had previously participated in the 03/31/2020 fatal shooting of 29-year-old John Henry Ross II after a police pursuit in Rockingham County. Harrisonburg police, Rockingham County deputies and Virginia State Police were involved in that encounter. Police alleged Ross pointed a rifle toward officers following approximately an hour of negotiations.
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Harrisonburg police had also shot and killed 31-year-old Thomas Albun Beall Jr. inside a Chili's restaurant in 2018 after police responded to reports of a person with a knife, and Harrisonburg police killed 23-year-old Michael Thomas Pierce during a disturbance response in 2015.
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A separate 2021 federal civil-rights action, Halter v. Hanlon, accused Harrisonburg Police Officer David Hanlon and the city of excessive force and other constitutional violations. The lawsuit does not establish misconduct and was ultimately dismissed without prejudice, but it represents contemporaneous documented civil-rights litigation involving the department.
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More recently, the department and several current or former personnel were sued over their handling of the investigation into Towan Cappell's 2022 killing. Cappell's mother alleged that police failed to properly investigate the death and that she personally discovered significant evidence at the scene after police had completed their initial work. The allegations are unrelated to Fitch's death and do not establish wrongdoing in his case.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.whsv.com/2021/09/15/man-killed-in-harrisonburg-police-shooting/
https://www.wric.com/news/virginia-news/state-police-investigate-harrisonburg-officer-involved-shooting/
https://www.whsv.com/2021/09/15/police-incident-harrisonburg-leads-shelter-in-place-some/
https://augustafreepress.com/news/suspect-in-harrisonburg-shooting-found-dead/