Howard County Police Chief Der Retires Amid Fatal Shooting Scrutiny

Alex LaMorie had been a resident of Patuxent Commons for exactly one week when the Howard County housing complex built for adults with disabilities became the last place he would ever see. The 25-year-old autistic man and autism advocate was shot and killed there in the early hours of March 1, 2026, by three officers who responded to his own 911 call. Thirty-two days later, the police chief is gone.

Howard County Executive Calvin Ball announced that Police Chief Gregory Der will retire effective June 1, 2026, after four and a half years leading the department. The departure follows two fatal police-involved shootings in Howard County since January 1, the more scrutinized involving LaMorie, an extortion victim who had dialed for help himself.

"After four and a half years of serving as Chief of Police, I am announcing my retirement with a deep sense of gratitude and pride," Der said in a written statement.

The LaMorie case became the pressure point after the Maryland Attorney General's Independent Investigations Division released body camera footage on March 30. LaMorie had called 911 shortly after midnight, reporting he was the target of an online extortion scheme and was contemplating self-harm. When officers located him outside the Freetown Road complex, he was holding a knife. The entire exchange lasted less than two minutes between officers' first contact with LaMorie and the fatal shooting.

Three officers fired: PFC Joseph Riebau, a 10-year veteran; Officer Joel Rodriguez, with two years on the force; and Officer Cody Bostic, a six-year veteran. PFC Riebau was heard on body camera pleading "Please don't make me do this" before firing. Two of the three were trained crisis intervention team members. Officers discussed using a Taser but did not deploy one.

LaMorie's family described him as "a bright light in the community" whose death was "senseless and callous." His mother, who described herself as now acting as her son's "victim advocate," said she was suffering a "betrayal-based moral injury" inflicted when officers chose to end his life rather than exhaust every alternative.

Council member Liz Walsh, a District 1 Democrat also running for county executive, had publicly called for Der's removal before Ball's announcement, saying, "This is the second officer-involved fatality since the start of the New Year." Council member Deb Jung (D-District 4) took a different posture, expressing hope that Ball's announced training reforms would improve crisis response and urging the community to "be patient and wait for the report to be issued" from the state.

In his response to the released footage, Ball wrote: "There are no words that can adequately express my grief regarding the tragic loss of Alexander Lamorie... As parents of children who are neurodivergent or differently abled, we often carry a heightened anxiety regarding the safety of our children."

The LaMorie case carries direct implications for Baltimore, where BPD has operated under federal consent decree oversight since 2017 with explicit mandates around crisis intervention reform. BPD is currently working to certify 30 percent of its patrol ranks in crisis intervention training. At the Patuxent Commons scene, two of the three responding officers already held that certification. The outcome was still fatal. The central question neither department has fully resolved is whether credentialing alone changes what unfolds in the 90 seconds before someone dies.

Ball's office said an interim chief would be named but offered no timeline or candidate. The Maryland AG's investigation into the March 1 shooting remains open.