The Brooke County assistant prosecutor said he's reviewed surveillance video of a police officer fatally shooting an armed robbery suspect and preliminary findings show that the officer was justified in firing his gun.

Assistant Prosecutor Joe Barki confirmed 29-year-old William Harmon of Steubenville is the man a Weirton officer shot Tuesday morning inside of a laundromat after what police believe was a string of crimes across the city.

Investigators said Harmon stole cash from the ATM at the Misty Cove Laundromat near Freedom Way and Route 2. By chance, he ran into a Weirton police officer and threatened him. That's when the officer fired the fatal shot at close range, Barki said.

As of Wednesday, prosecutors have no intent to send the case to a grand jury. However, a final determination likely won't come for two weeks, because the prosecutor is still waiting on reports from the medical examiner and West Virginia State Police.

Weirton Police Chief Bruce Marshall said the man who was shot is the same person who committed an armed robbery at the Sunoco gas station/BFS Foods convenience store on Three Springs Drive around 3 a.m. Tuesday.


Weirton police are not releasing the name of the officer involved and would only say that the man was shot during the commission of a felony around 6 a.m. and the investigation is still under way.


"This incident has been turned over to the West Virginia State Police … because one of our officers is involved in the shooting," Marshall said.


On Tuesday, at the shopping plaza that houses the laundromat, drivers, workers and nearby residents were kept back by yellow crime scene tape while investigators measured spots in the parking lot around an officer's police cruiser and a green car. A white sheet covered the outline of a body.


A clerk involved at the Sunoco gas station/BFS Foods during armed robbery, Anthony Hardwick, said the robber was a regular customer and even apologized during the crime. But it didn't stop the robber from threatening Hardwick in the process, he said.


Hardwick, who has only been on the job there for the past two weeks, said he went back to change trash cans around 3:30 a.m., which is one of his routine chores on his normal midnight shift at the store.


"I still have a view of the register, and I heard footsteps. I turned around and there was a black male just robbing the register. I went toward him, told him to stop, started yelling at him. He told me not to come any closer to him. He showed me a kitchen knife with a serrated blade. Long," Hardwick said.


Hardwick said his first instinct was to attack because 10 months ago he left the Air Force, where he was trained as a military police officer. But, in this case, more rational thoughts held him back, he said.


"I told my manager I was going to charge him, and I tried to until he showed me the knife. She said, 'It's a good thing that you didn't,'" Hardwick said. "I had no weapon to defend myself with."

Downtown, where the robber was killed, West Virginia State Police and Weirton police were called to the scene. The parking lot of the shopping plaza was blocked off and full of investigators, who were also focusing on the laundromat in the middle of the shopping plaza.


The area was cleared by about 2 p.m. Tuesday and the businesses were permitted to reopen. Stay with NEWS9, WTOV9.com and WTOV9 Mobile for continuing coverage as details are released.