Fort Worth

Fort Worth Officer Indicted in Shooting; Chief Says Discharge Was Unintentional

Despite intent, chief says officer must answer for shooting in a court of law

Members of the Fort Worth Police Department joined Chief Joel Fitzgerald on stage Wednesday to show support for transparency with the community by releasing dashcam footage of an officer-involved shooting that injured a person holding a barbecue fork.

Fort Worth Police Officer Courtney Johnson, 33, was indicted Tuesday by a Tarrant County grand jury on a charge of aggravated assault by a public servant after police said he shot a man who refused to drop what had been reported to be a "large knife."

Fitzgerald released dashcam video Wednesday showing the shooting, which Fitzgerald and Fort Worth Police Officer's Association President Sgt. Rick VanHouton described as an unintentional discharge of a weapon and not an act of racism or malice.

"I want to make sure that the community understands we're removing the specter of racism and allegations of suppressing any video evidence from the conversation. We want to move forward, united as a community," Fitzgerald said.

Johnson was responding to a 911 call on June 23, 2015 where a resident reported someone holding a large knife and banging on their door at 3:30 a.m.

Johnson arrived at the location and found a person matching the description provided by the caller. Johnson ordered the person, later identified as Craigory Adams, to "drop the knife."

After Adams dropped to a knee and dropped the "knife," Johnson, who is white, fired a single shot from his shotgun, injuring Adams, who is black, in the arm, police said.

In the video, Johnson can be seen immediately rushing to provide aid to Adams after the shooting. Adams was then transported to an area hospital for treatment of non life-threatening injuries.

After the shooting, it was determined the "large knife" was an 11-inch barbeque fork with two tines.

"Let's be clear. We believe that race played no factor, in the sense that, this is, in our opinion, an unintentional shooting. But a shooting none the less that our officer will have to deal with in a court of law," Fitzgerald said. "We are weighing the fact that we believe the officer acted in a way that demonstrated to us that it was unintentional but we also realize there are legal ramifications for his actions."

Though the discharge of the weapon is believed to have been unintentional, Fitzgerald said he didn't think there was an issue with weapons training at the department.

Johnson's recording did not include audio and he was not wearing a body camera. Other officers who arrived after the shooting were wearing body cameras -- those videos have not yet been released.

The presidents of the Fort Worth Police Officer's Association, Fort Worth Black Law Enforcement Officer's Association and the Fort Worth chapter of the National Latino Law Enforcement Organization all issued statements of support for both Johnson and Adams, as well as any decision Fitzgerald may make regarding Johnson's future with the department.

"We stand by Officer Johnson and support him through this entire process and ensure his due process rights are afforded to him. This was truly a tragic incident and our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved: Mr. Adams and his family, Officer Johnson and his family, the employees of the Fort Worth Police Department and the community at large," VanHouten said.

Johnson is on restricted duty with the department and was freed on $25,000 bond. His attorneys of record are Jim Lane and Tim Choy. A hearing has been set for April 13 at 9 a.m.

NBC 5's Chris Van Horne and Holley Ford contributed to this report.

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