THAT SHOOTING STILL REEKS

THE PRINCE GEORGE'S County police officer who killed a Hyattsville man
after trailing him into Fairfax County last month will not be charged with
a crime in Fairfax, Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. has
announced. But the case must not end with that decision.

The facts remain too disquieting.

In the wee hours of Sept. 1, Prince C. Jones, an innocent man, is driving
his Jeep and finds himself pursued by two unmarked vehicles through three
jurisdictions. One vehicle disappears, but the other stays after him. Mr.
Jones makes a quick left, pulls into a driveway and turns off his lights.
The remaining pursuer spots him and tries to turn around.

Mr. Jones uses his Jeep to block the driver's door of the other vehicle,
gets out and approaches the occupant.

At this tense point, Mr. Jones doesn't know who's pursuing him, or why. The
man wears no uniform, shows no ID, but raises a gun and, according to Mr.
Horan's account, claims he is as a police officer and twice tells Mr. Jones
to "get back in your vehicle." Mr. Jones does, then shifts the Jeep into
reverse and rams the other vehicle twice.

At that point his pursuer fires 16 shots at Prince Jones from a 9mm Beretta
pistol.

Six of the bullets hit Mr. Jones in the back, and five hours later he is
dead at Inova Fairfax Hospital. The man with the gun turns out to be Prince
George's Police Cpl. Carlton B. Jones (no relation), and Prince Jones turns
out not to be the man police were looking for in connection with the theft
of a police officer's gun.

Mr. Horan says that he could not bring the case to a grand jury, that there
is not sufficient evidence to charge Cpl. Jones with any crime.

We are in no position to second-guess what a jury might have done; but we
do know that the ultimate wrong was done to an innocent man by a police
officer. The investigation of this distressing case cannot end with Mr.
Horan's closing of the file in Fairfax. To decide that this was not a
murder is one thing. But the FBI is investigating the shooting, and the
officer could be prosecuted at the federal level.

Prince George's Police Chief John S. Farrell says that an internal
investigation--halted during the Fairfax inquiry--will resume as well. The
county force remains under U.S. Justice Department scrutiny because of a
number of shootings by officers.

The residents of Prince George's have good reason to seek these additional
professional judgments.