VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Nine months after officers with Montgomery County, Maryland, police shot and killed a cold case suspect in a car in Virginia Beach, the city commonwealth’s attorney has determined the shooting was justified.

The Montgomery County officers were serving as special deputy U.S. Marshals during the Feb. 12 operation, which resulted in the death of 51-year-old Hans Huitz.

Huitz was a suspect in the stabbing death of 57-year-old James Essel at Sugarloaf Mountain Market in Comus, Maryland, on March 22, 1992.

The officers were trying to make an arrest around 6:30 a.m. Feb. 12 in the 900 block of Maitland Drive in the Ocean Lakes area. The out-of-state officers, aided by Virginia Beach Police, confronted Huitz while he was in his vehicle.

They were negotiating his surrender when he showed a handgun, police said.

Officers fired at Huitz. He was later pronounced dead at the scene. No officers were injured during the incident.

Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney Colin Stolle said the actions of the three officers involved in the shooting were “initiated to protect themselves and the other Marshals present at the scene from serious bodily injury or death.”

Stolle said none of the officers will face charges, as he believes the officers’ actions were within their legal authority.

The investigation by the commonwealth’s attorney also doesn’t determine any potential civil liability of the officers or the involved agencies. In his investigative report, Stolle also explained that the Montgomery County officers had authority as special deputy U.S. Marshals to operate in the city under federal law.

Stolle’s investigation reviewed interviews, diagrams, photos, audio recordings, videos and other information collected by a commonwealth’s attorney’s office investigator and Virginia Beach Police Department investigator.

Stolle’s report also gave background information on what happened the day Huitz was shot.

One day before the fatal shooting, authorities had taken a DNA swab, which linked Huitz to the 1992 murder in Comus, Maryland.

After linking Huitz to the scene, they obtained arrest warrants for robbery and murder.

The following morning, Feb. 12, the U.S. Marshals special deputies and Virginia Beach Police — who came to serve in “a support position” — attempted to take Huitz into custody.

As Huitz drove away from his residence, the Marshals used four vehicles to pin his car from all four sides.

During that time, Stolle said Huitz “immediately” raised a handgun and put it in his mouth when he saw the Marshals, who got out of their cars and identified themselves as police.

During that time, Huitz took out a second handgun. Marshals attempted to negotiate with him and asked him to put the guns down and think of his family.

“He then started to take turns switching between one gun in his mouth and putting the other to his head,” Stolle wrote in his investigative report.

During negotiations, Huitz admitted to the 1992 murder, saying “I killed somebody and I’m going to do 30 years.”

He also made a phone call, which was later confirmed to be to his wife. He told his wife he had killed a man while he was drunk, that he could not go to prison, and “there was only one way out.”

As negotiations continued, officers began to fear for their safety, the report said. Huitz started turning in his seat as if he was trying to see where the officers were located around him. He also used a flashlight at one time.

“Finally, Huitz turned in his seat lowering one of the handguns towards the Marshals,” the report said.

At that time, the three officers each fired their weapons once. One of the rounds struck Huitz in the head. The other two hit Huitz’s car.

The standoff lasted eight to 10 minutes.

An autopsy confirmed Huitz died from a rifle wound to the head with injury to the face and brain.

Investigation showed the two handguns in Huitz’s car each had chambered rounds and full magazines. One had a cocked hammer. Neither appeared to have been fired.

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