The Washington Post
January 25, 1979, Thursday, Final Edition
Officer Cleared in Janitor's Death
BYLINE: By Athelia Knight, Washington Post Staff Writer
SECTION: Metro; C9
LENGTH: 309 words
An internal Fairfax County police investigation has cleared
a police officer who mistakenly shot a janitor during a stakeout of an often
robbed school, Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. said yesterday.
Horan said the investigation found "no wrongdoing" by officer David
Lubas, who shot and killed custodian John Jackson Dec. 29 in the kitchen of the
private Talent House School, 9211 Arlington Blvd.Lubas shot Jackson three times
when he entered the school with his 22 caliber gun, apparently to begin his own
stakeout.Jackson was unaware that two plain clothes police officers were also
staking out the school.
"It's a tragic incident," Horan said. "There
is no reason to suspect that Jackson was coming in there to burglarize the
place. He was coming there to stake the place out like the police [were
doing.]" Eldon Merritt, owner of the school, had offered a $500 reward to
his employes for help in apprehending the persons responsible for a series of
burglaries at the school.Jackson, 33, of Manassas, had returned to the school
about 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 29. But, unknown to him, two Fairfax County police
officers, Lubas and Nancy Lutz, were inside the school on a
stakeout."Normally on a stakeout, you let as few people know about it as
possible," Horan said. "There is a question of whether or why Mr.
Jackson wasn't told about it. Certainly, he should have been
notified."David Feldman, an attorney who is investigating the death for
Jackson's family, said yesterday that Jackson had staked out the school premises
the three nights prior to the shooting. "It's absolutely obvious that
something went wrong," Feldman said.Horan said Lubas, a three-year police
veteran who had been placed on administrative leave pending the completion of
the police investigation, returned to work last week.