PHOENIX — The Maricopa County Attorney's Office has declined to charge officers involved in a deadly shooting of a man throwing rocks last year.
Thirty-four-year-old Ali Osman was shot by Phoenix officers on September 24, 2022, after police say he was throwing rocks at them near 19th and Glendale avenues.
WATCH: Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell announces no charges to be filed
Two officers fired shots at Osman within seconds of jumping out of their patrol cars and having Osman throw two rocks at them.
It is unclear how large the actual rocks were, but no officers were seriously injured.
The two officers who fired did not attempt to use less-lethal force, although a third officer, who arrived at the scene with them, had a less-lethal shotgun in his hands.
Before they turned around to confront Osman, one officer said to another, "Let's go get this m***** f*****."
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell implied the officers could have done differently to avoid the deadly shooting, but said that was not her job to analyze.
"I’m not looking at their policy, I’m not looking at this administratively. I am looking at the law," said Mitchell. "And I think when somebody is throwing rocks at you, that are big enough to cut metal, that it justifies what happened."
Mitchell said her decision not to charge the officers had to do with the 'reasonable likelihood of conviction' at trial.
"Can I prove that what [the officers] did was not reasonable, not justified, beyond a reasonable doubt? And the answer, in this case, is no, because of what [Osman] was doing," said Mitchell. "I think there is not a jury who will unanimously find that that happened."
The Osman family's attorney, Quacy Smith, said that the rationale behind a charging decision is not applied evenly to non-officers.
"I know for a fact that you do not give them to regular everyday citizens," said Smith. "If the officers were treated the same as everyday citizens, they would be charged...a grand jury or judge should have decided if there was enough evidence to proceed."
Mr. Smith, who is representing the family in the civil suit, said no amount of money would send the same message as criminal charges.
"[The millions of taxpayer dollars to settle] isn’t sending a message to anybody, because nobody is being prosecuted for conduct in the case," said Smith.
Osman’s family has filed a lawsuit seeking $85 million from the City of Phoenix.
"We will get justice," Osman's niece Ikran Aden said after Phoenix police released body cam footage of when they encountered Osman.
Aden and other relatives flew into the Valley to push for action and were joined by other organizations, including Black Lives Matter of Phoenix, who were asking for accountability.
"It's been really hard on us, you know, we watched a video and it even became more harder," said Aden.
