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The shooting of John Geer occurred on August 29, 2013, in the Pohick Hills neighborhood[1] of Springfield, Virginia. Geer was killed by Fairfax County Police Department Officer Adam Torres, after a 42-minute standoff. Geer was unarmed with his hands raised above his shoulders,
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Shooting
Geer's partner called police to say that they were arguing, and that Geer was throwing her belongings onto the front lawn of the townhouse they shared. Fairfax County police arrived and Geer showed them a holstered firearm and told them "I have a gun; I will use it if I need to because you guys have guns" and then placed it on a nearby staircase. He continued to speak to a police hostage negotiator for approximately 42 minutes. Officer Torres had his handgun aimed at Geer from 17 feet away, and remained on post the entire time of the incident. Geer repeatedly asked Barnes to have Torres lower his weapon, which Barnes relayed to Torres on at least two occasions. Geer's daughters were taken to a neighbor's house during the stand-off, and one of them opened the door and shouted at the police, "Don't you hurt my daddy!" An officer responded by saying "Don't come out. Keep the door closed."
Sometime between 3:30 PM and 3:45 PM, Torres claims that Geer started to lower his hands; however, four other police officers, including Officer Barnes, disagreed with Torres' version of the scene, including a statement that "he [Geer] didn't have to die that day." Torres fired one shot at Geer without warning, killing him. As Geer was shot, he swung around and went back inside his house and closed the front door. Not knowing the degree of injury to Geer, nor the threat he may have posed to both officers and the viewing spectators, a SWAT team arrived with an armored truck outfitted with a battering ram. When they entered the house, they found Geer lying just inside the front door. Paramedics pronounced him dead