On March 12, 2020, Duncan Socrates Lemp was fatally shot at his home in Potomac, Maryland during a no-knock search by the Montgomery County Police Department's SWAT team.
The phrase, which means "thus always to tyrants", is the state motto of Virginia, and had also been used both by Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth, and the Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
[12][13] The police department stated that due to Lemp's criminal history as a juvenile, he was prohibited from legally possessing firearms until age 30.
[7] Montgomery County Police detectives received a tip from a confidential informant that Lemp illegally possessed firearms.
[1][3] The police "applied for and received a no-knock search warrant for the crimes of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.
"[3] Police also stated that "Lemp was found to be in possession of a rifle and was located directly in front of the interior bedroom entrance door.
the officers initiated gunfire and flash bangs from outside the house through Duncan's window without warning and while Lemp was sleeping.
[3][4] As of October 2020[update], neither body camera footage nor the arrest warrant had been released, despite public record requests by Reason magazine and MuckRock.
[15] The official report documented prosecutors discovering "numerous firearms, both pistols and rifles, located throughout Lemp's bedroom in plain view.
"[17] The report concluded: "Based upon a thorough review of all information known at this time, it is the opinion of the Howard County prosecutors, that the actions of the shooting officer on March 12, 2020 were reasonable under the circumstances.