13 minutes from contact to death: Police body, dash cams capture fatal shooting of man in Gaithersburg
Elliott Powers, 46, sat at bus stop with gun, refused officers’ orders
By
Elia GriffinAugust 10, 2026 6:17 p.m.
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Body and dash camera footage from Montgomery County and Gaithersburg police officers who were involved in the fatal shooting of Elliott Powers, 46, of Rockville, at a Gaithersburg bus stop on July 12, was released to the public Friday, providing new insight into the interaction officers had with the man before his death.
The videos, one from the Maryland Office of the Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division and the other from the Gaithersburg and county police departments, begin with officers pulling up to a bus stop in the 9600 block of Lost Knife Road in Gaithersburg and end with Powers shot dead, glass from the shelter shattered around him.
During the roughly 13 minutes from police contact to the point where at least 10 shots could be heard, both videos show police officers attempting in vain to convince Powers to drop his gun. Powers remained seated on the bus stop bench throughout the video and can be heard refusing officer orders, telling one officer to “hurt” him.
It remains unclear how many times police shot Powers, but officers from both agencies fired their weapons. No officers or bystanders were injured in the shooting.
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After the shooting, the Independent Investigations Division (IID), which leads all police involved shootings and incidents resulting in death or serious injury, announced it would investigate.
IID investigations can take several months to complete, according to the division. When complete, the division releases an investigative report that details the incident and provides legal analysis and recommendations about whether the officers involved will be charged, according to the division protocol.
In addition, the IID identified the officers involved in the shooting several days after the incident. According to county police, all involved officers are placed on administrative leave during the investigation.
The incident
The shooting occurred around 7 p.m. at a bus stop in the 9600 block of Lost Knife Road next to the Montgomery Village Crossing shopping center. Officers from the county and Gaithersburg police departments responded around 6:45 p.m. to the bus stop after receiving a report of an armed man.
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The 45-minute video from the Independent Investigations Division includes footage from the body cameras of several Gaithersburg police officers and dashboard video from their police cruisers.
The 39-minute video released by county police also included body camera and dashboard camera footage as well as audio of the 911 phone call when a woman reported the armed man to police. The woman advised that a bus operator leaving the Lake Forest Transit Center reported to her that a man in “all black clothing” had been sitting at the bus bay loading a gun.
Footage from the body camera of Gaithersburg Police Sgt. Christopher Leach showed that as responding officers arrived at the bus stop, the suspect, later identified as Powers, sat on a bench in the bus stop shelter. Another person sat next to Powers on the other side of the bench, and two other people sat on the curb next to the bus station shelter. Behind them, cars and pedestrians moved around the parking lot of the shopping center.
When Leach approached the bus shelter, he called out, “Sir, can I see your hands,” according to the footage. At the same time, a second officer is seen exiting his police cruiser in the shopping center parking lot and approaching the scene.
The incident quickly escalated when Leach walked closer to the bus stop, and Powers appeared to pull out a handgun from his backpack. Leach then drew his gun and stepped back behind his police cruiser, saying, “No, no, no, no, no.”
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As Leach stepped away, more officers arrived at the scene. In the footage, the click sound of Powers racking a gun – an action that loads the firearm – can be heard. Then, Leach yells out, “Drop the gun!”
At this point, the other people at the bus bay got up and left. Leach and another Gaithersburg officer, Cpl. Chris Welte, began to talk to Powers, according to the footage. Welte introduced himself and attempted to persuade Powers to drop the gun.
“Come on man, just drop the gun,” Welte said.
During the initial interaction, Welte can be heard on the footage leading the conversation and negotiations with Powers.
Throughout the conversation, Welte is crouched behind the hood of a Gaithersburg police cruiser with his gun drawn in the direction of the bus stop. Welte repeatedly tells Powers to “please” drop the gun and work with him.
“Y’all f—ing with the wrong person … I ain’t dropping nothing,” Powers, still sitting on the bench, said in response.
When Welte tells Powers that he didn’t want to hurt him, the man responds, “Hurt me.”
A back-and-forth conversation between Welte and Powers lasted about four minutes, according to the footage. During that time, Powers did not follow police orders, told officers to leave him alone and said, “You’re going to have to kill me.”
“I don’t want to do that,” Welte said in response. “Nobody wants to do that. You don’t want that.”
About four minutes into the conversation, Leach requests over his radio for a negotiator to come to the scene, according to the footage. The officers also decide to back away from in front of the bus stop and take cover behind a Montgomery County police cruiser parked several feet away.
“We’re going to give him space,” Leach said.
Over the following 10 minutes, various police officers, including Welte, attempted to convince Powers to drop his gun, according to the footage. At times Powers is heard in the video talking to himself and to officers, but much of what he says is inaudible.
Meanwhile, footage from the dashboard camera in a Gaithersburg police cruiser shows that some officers at the scene discussed other tactics to deescalate the situation and get Powers to leave the gun.
“Both hands are clear. Let’s start devising a plan to try to get him in custody,” one officer is heard saying in the footage from county police.
In addition, other responding officers worked to clear the public area around the scene, according to county police video. These efforts included closing the Montgomery Village shopping plaza, surrounding parking lots and nearby roadways.
Officers at the scene who were not directly speaking to Powers can be heard in the footage evaluating the use of other de-escalation methods, including a police dog (K-9 unit), taser and pepper ball gun, according to the county police video.
While those resources were available, they were not used. According to county police, officers determined that using those resources would “escalate the situation more.”
In the footage, when officers discussed the potential use of a K-9 unit, one officer said that could escalate the situation and wanted to avoid that. Another officer asked about using the “Raven 6,” or police drone. However, the drone was not in service at that time, one officer replied. In addition, another officer discussed the use of a taser, noting that if they were to use a taser, the officers would have “lethal coverage everywhere” to the left of where they stood.
“As soon as he presents as a taser target, if there is not a lethal threat, take it,” a county police officer said.
The shooting occurred moments later when an officer at the scene briskly walked to the police cruiser in the parking lot behind the bus stop. When this happened, Powers raised and pointed his gun in the direction of that officer, according to the footage. Immediately after doing so, an officer calls “Gun out!” and a barrage of gunshots is heard. Powers, still sitting on the bus stop bench, goes limp.
Soon after the gunfire stopped, a handful of officers approached the bus bay with their guns drawn, according to the footage. The officers called for a “med kit” and requested over radio transmissions for Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service paramedics.
The officers also recovered the gun that was in Powers’ possession, according to the video, and moved his body to the ground. Underneath Powers’ lifeless body is shattered glass and a pool of blood.
After MCFRS crews arrived, Powers was pronounced dead at the scene.
The county police officers involved in the shooting have been identified by the IID as Michael Wengloski, Andrew Hanko and Robert Bullock. The officers have been with the department for 12, eight and seven years, respectively, according to state investigators.
The Gaithersburg police involved in the shooting include Noah Whelan, Carissa Fortin and Christopher Leach. Officers Whelan and Fortin have been with the department for five and eight years, respectively. Leach, a sergeant, has been with the department for 14.
In their video, county police said that the county and Gaithersburg police departments will conduct a “thorough, objective review of their officers’ use of force” during the incident, in accordance with the Maryland Public Safety Code 3-524 and departmental procedures.
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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine