Police fired more than 140 bullets at James Harrison. At least 10 projectiles found their target.
According to a multi-agency investigation, however, the use of deadly force was warranted and appropriate.
“The Johnston Police Department commends the assistance that was provided by the Cranston Police Department and the Providence Police Department in swiftly locating and neutralizing this armed and dangerous individual,” Johnston Police Chief Mark A. Vieira said Wednesday. “This incident was a credit to the officers’ training to assess threats and respond appropriately, ensuring the safety of the public as well as their own.”
The Rhode Island Attorney General’s office announced Tuesday that an investigation into the police-shooting death of Harrison, a homicide suspect himself, has concluded.
“The investigation was conducted pursuant to the Attorney General’s Protocol for the Review of Incidents Involving the Use of Deadly Force, Excessive Force, and Custodial Deaths … together with the Rhode Island State Police and the involved police departments,” according to the report. “Based on this review, we conclude that the actions of the police officers involved were legally justified.”
The dead suspect had at least 10 gunshot wounds, according to the medical examiner.
On May 24, 2023, “numerous Cranston Police officers as well as several members of the Providence and Johnston Police Departments,” converged on the scene of a car crash on Plainfield Pike. Those officers shot and killed Harrison in a barrage of bullets.
The investigation into the shooting took more than a year.
The Murders
Police were on the lookout for Harrison, who was wanted for several shootings earlier that day in Johnston. Harrison fled the murder scene on Ligian Court, and Johnston Police issued a statewide Be On The Lookout (BOLO) call to local departments.
On the morning of Wednesday, May 24, 2023, Johnston Police had found a pair of victims across the street from Harrison’s home —Thomas May and his daughter (May was dead, but his daughter survived). Harrison had been accused of peeping in the victim’s bedroom window, leading to an overnight police investigation.
The victims’ wife and mother “identified their next-door neighbor, James Harrison, as the shooter to Johnston Police officers who responded to the scene,” according to the AG’s report. “Officers immediately went to Harrison’s house. There, they found Harrison’s mother, Janet Harrison, deceased with multiple gunshot wounds.”
Several hours later, Cranston police officers located Harrison at St. Ann Cemetery in Cranston.
“Harrison attempted to elude police, leading them on a high-speed chase through Cranston and Providence ending on Plainfield Pike in Cranston, where he crashed his vehicle on a grassy area on the side of the road adjacent to the Board of Elections,” according to the AG’s report. “He was immediately surrounded by multiple police cruisers. Harrison emerged from his car brandishing a firearm.”
Multiple body-worn cameras captured the footage, and showed Harrison pointing a gun at officers.
Suspect Shooting
Following an autopsy, the Ocean State’s Medical Examiner determined Harrison’s cause of death “to be multiple gunshot wounds: two perforating gunshot wounds and eight penetrating gunshot wounds,” according to the AG’s report. “There were two gunshot wounds to the head, four gunshot wounds to the torso, a gunshot wound to the left shoulder/axilla, a gunshot wound to the left chest and right arm, a gunshot wound to the right forearm, and a gunshot wound to the left shoulder. The report also noted two graze wounds: one to the head and one to the left forearm. Ten projectiles were recovered from Harrison’s body.”
The bullets removed from Harrison’s corpse were turned over to the Rhode Island State Police Forensic Services Unit (FSU). The autopsy toxicology report indicated Harrison’s blood alcohol concentration was .062%.
At the scene, the FSU located a silver and black Colt MK IV Series 80 .45 semiautomatic handgun next to Harrison’s body, according to the report.
“The hammer was in a downward position and the safety was off,” according to investigators. “There was a silver magazine inserted into the well of the weapon that appeared to be partially ejected. The magazine was fully loaded with seven cartridges. There was no cartridge loaded in the chamber of the pistol.”
The FSU found a second weapon, a silver revolver (an Iver Johnson’s Arms .38 cal.) in Harrison’s vehicle glovebox. That gun was also fully loaded.
According to investigators, that gun had jammed after two shots were fired.
Multiple officers fired at Harrison when he was finally located on Plainfield Pike.
“The FSU determined that ten members of the Cranston Police Department and one member of the Providence Police Department discharged a total of 141 projectiles from their firearms: 81 9mm rounds, 10 .40 caliber rounds, 22 .223 caliber rounds, and 28 5.56mm rounds.”
Spent shell casings carpeted the scene. Investigators seized 70 9mm cartridge cases, seven .40 cal. cases, 16 .223 cal. cartridge cases, and 27 5.56mm cartridge cases from the scene (totaling 120 cartridge cases).
According to investigators, 17 projectiles/projectile fragments were removed from Harrison’s vehicle and 13 other projectiles/projectile fragments were found elsewhere at the scene.
Not all cartridge cases or projectiles were found by investigators.
The Guns
In all, investigators took 11 weapons from police for examination —10 firearms from Cranston Police officers, and one firearm from a Providence officer.
The report names which officers fired, and how many shots they took.
Investigators say they were unable to match the bullets removed from Harrison’s corpse with the police guns seized after the shooting.
“No definitive comparisons could be made as none of the projectiles had sufficient individual characteristics necessary for identification,” according to the report. “Accordingly, it is impossible to conclusively determine which of the officers fired the projectiles that struck Harrison’s body.”
Following the investigation’s conclusion, the AG’s office has determined “the use of deadly force and less lethal force by the Cranston and Providence police officers on the scene was necessary and objectively reasonable under the circumstances.”
They cited several key facts in making this determination — Harrison was a dangerous fleeing felon who was suspected of a triple shooting earlier in the day which left two people dead; he had just led officers on a dangerous high-speed chase during which he struck and/or attempted to strike multiple police cruisers, and only ended when Harrison lost control of his vehicle; and Harrison emerged from his vehicle holding a handgun which he pointed at an officer located just 21 feet away.
“There were numerous other officers and civilians in the vicinity who could have also been easily targeted by Harrison,” concludes the report. “Additionally, the evidence shows that Mr. Harrison disregarded warnings to lay down his gun and put up his hands. In short, Mr. Harrison gave no indication that he intended to surrender to law enforcement — just the opposite.”
SUSPECT DEAD: Police shot and killed James Harrison, 52, of 4 Ligian Court, Johnston, following a triple shooting (double homicide), on May 24, 2023. This week, the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office concluded that Harrison’s shooting death by police was reasonable and justified. (SunRise file photo)
HEAVY POLICE PRESENCE: Police from multiple departments converged on a shooting suspect’s car along Plainfield Pike, on the Johnston/Cranston border, in 2023. Police fired more than 140 bullets at the suspect, killing him at the scene. On Tuesday, a multi-agency investigation cleared police of any wrongdoing. (SunRise file photo)
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