Robert Lawrence White

Robert Lawrence White, 41, a man with cognitive impairments, was shot and killed by Montgomery County, Maryland Police Officer Anand Badgujar in a Silver Spring parking lot on June 11, 2018. White was simply walking alone near his home when Badgujar, who had just finished an unrelated call, noticed a rip in his jacket and moved his hand toward his pocket, and began following him. The encounter escalated into a physical struggle in which White allegedly knocked the officer down; Badgujar, heard on his own radio describing the situation as a possible “suicide by cop type thing,” fired eight rounds, striking White multiple times. No weapon was found on White. The Howard County State's Attorney's Office, brought in for an independent review, unanimously cleared Badgujar of criminal wrongdoing in July 2018, and Montgomery County's own internal review reached the same conclusion in 2019. A federal lawsuit alleging White was targeted because he was Black was dismissed in 2023. No one has ever been charged in White's death.

Silver Spring, MD · Montgomery County

• 2018: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The initial stop, the escalating struggle, and the shooting, per Montgomery County Police body camera footage released publicly and the Howard County State's Attorney's independent review.
• Badgujar began following White after noticing him walking with a torn jacket and moving his hand toward his pocket; White was not the subject of any specific complaint or suspected of any particular crime at the time.
• Badgujar was recorded on his own police radio describing the unfolding situation as potentially a “suicide by cop type thing” before the shooting occurred.
• Police said White physically assaulted Badgujar twice, at one point knocking him to the ground and gaining a position where he could have taken the officer's firearm; Badgujar fired eight rounds, and no weapon was found on White.
• The Howard County State's Attorney's Office, brought in specifically to provide an independent review separate from Montgomery County's own department, unanimously concluded in July 2018 that Badgujar's actions were legally justified.
• A subsequent Montgomery County Police administrative review, completed in March 2019, reached the identical conclusion that the shooting was lawful and justified, finding Badgujar was “in grave danger.”
• White's siblings filed a federal lawsuit alleging Badgujar targeted White because he was Black, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause; a federal judge dismissed the case in 2023, ruling White was not legally “seized” until the moment he was shot, which defeated the unreasonable-seizure and excessive-force claims as pleaded.

• Whether Badgujar's initial decision to follow and stop White — someone not suspected of any specific crime, based only on a torn jacket and a hand movement — was itself reasonable, and whether that decision set the entire escalation in motion, was raised by the family but not the basis on which the courts or reviewing prosecutors resolved the case.
• Whether White's cognitive impairments affected his ability to understand or respond to the officer's commands during the encounter has not been directly addressed in the available public reviews.
• The full reasoning behind the federal court's procedural dismissal, turning on the legal definition of when a “seizure” began rather than on the reasonableness of the officer's conduct throughout the encounter, has been criticized by civil rights attorneys as avoiding the substance of the family's discrimination claim.

• The Washington Post — “Maryland prosecutors clear officer who killed unarmed man during chaotic parking lot encounter”
• WTOP News — “Montgomery Co. police review finds 2018 shooting, killing of unarmed man justified”
• CourtListener — Thompson v. Badgujar, memorandum opinion
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs