Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley today notified Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis that prosecutors would not recommend criminal charges in the fatal Nov. 21, 2007, shooting of Marquis Barker by Boston Police.

More than a year of careful investigation by members of Conley’s Homicide Unit, who investigate all police-involved shootings and fatalities in Suffolk County, established that the officers acted lawfully and reasonably when they fired on Barker as he pointed a GAMO PT-80 air pistol at them. At the time he pointed that air pistol, which is designed and marketed as a detailed and realistic replica of an actual handgun, at the officers, Barker had stolen a Boston Police cruiser, had been the subject of multiple 911 calls for a man with a gun, had threatened to kill himself, and had refused repeated orders to drop his weapon.

The investigation also revealed that officers made repeated efforts to end the incident without using their duty weapons and fired on him only when he pointed the weapon directly at them as if ready to fire.

The determination that charges were not warranted was based upon the reports submitted by the Boston Police Firearms Discharge Investigation Team; the taped statements of family members who observed Barker’s erratic behavior prior to his initial involvement with police; the taped statements of independent civilian witnesses who observed Barker and his actions in the time preceding his death; multiple civilian 911 calls; Boston Police dispatch transmissions; reports completed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner; ballistics evidence collected at the scene; and other physical and documentary evidence including the replica handgun that Barker pointed at responding officers.

The investigation established that Barker, distressed over a variety of personal issues, became engaged in a verbal argument with his wife that briefly became physical. In the course of that argument, Barker asked his wife where his gun was and stated that he was going to shoot himself. His wife fled the family home to a neighbor’s residence.

Barker then went into his stepdaughter’s room and threw her television onto the floor. He grabbed her by the neck and threw her onto the bed. When his stepson came into the room and intervened, Barker told him that he was going to kill himself.

Barker retrieved the air pistol, went outside of his Fuller Street home, and began to point the weapon at neighbors and his own head. He stated repeatedly that he was ready to die and at one point pulled a neighbor from her car while pointing the gun at her.

Barker’s wife made one of several 911 calls that evening, stating that her husband was “losing it” and pointing a pellet gun at passing cars. All other 911 calls, however, reported a man with a gun and there was no confirmation that Barker had an air pistol rather than a real pistol.

The first responding officers encountered a young man fleeing the scene, speaking incoherently, and pointing in Barker’s direction. The officers observed Barker walking unsteadily in circles in the street with a firearm in his hand. As the officers approached, Barker held the weapon in a “low ready” position, as officers are trained to do with a loaded service weapon. The officers observed the weapon as similar to a department issued firearm but a little bit smaller.

The officers instructed Barker multiple times to drop the weapon. Barker refused to do so and began to advance on them. As he did, Barker said, “Shoot me, kill me.” The officers did not fire but continued to order him to drop the gun. As they did, and as they changed positions to take cover, Barker entered their marked cruiser. When Barker briefly put the gun in his lap, one of the officers reached in to remove him from the vehicle; Barker at that time sped off.

The officers radioed the information that a man with a gun had seized their cruiser. Additional units responded and were ultimately led to the Walgreens near Morton and Norfolk streets, where Barker lost control of the vehicle and crashed. As the officers approached the cruiser in which he sat, Barker pointed the gun directly at them. One officer fired and another, believing that his partner was exchanging gunfire with an armed suspect, also fired. A third officer, observing Barker as he leaned out of the passenger’s window and pointed his weapon directly at one of the other officers, also fired on him. Barker died as a result of gunshot injuries sustained during those seconds.

All of the available evidence demonstrates that the officers who fired on Barker did so reasonably and lawfully, either in self-defense or in defense of their fellow officers, and criminal charges against them are not warranted.