Fort Worth officer who shot fork-wielding man fired

FORT WORTH, Texas – A Fort Worth officer has been fired after his aggravated assault trial in the shooting of a man walking in his neighbourhood holding a barbecue fork ended in a hung jury.

Officer Courtney Johnson was fired Tuesday in the 2015 shotgun shooting. Craigory Adams, who has a mental impairment, had dropped the fork and gone down on a knee when he was shot in the arm and wounded.

In a letter to the Fort Worth Civil Service Commission, Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald said “Johnson made the wrong decision, and he could have killed Craigory Adams.” Fitzgerald said Adams was complying with police orders when he was shot.

Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson dismissed the charge against Johnson after the mistrial.