No criminal charges for Raleigh police in deadly shootout that injured officer, DA rules
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Shooting at Raleigh’s Renaissance Park neighborhood
A shooting on Jan. 21, 2025, in the Renaissance Park neighborhood left two men dead, including the suspect, and a police officer critically injured. Here is ongoing coverage from The News & Observer about the shootout and aftermath.
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Two months after two men were killed and a Raleigh police officer was seriously injured in a shootout, Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman announced that none of the officers involved will be prosecuted.
Officers were justified in using deadly force to stop Antonio Joseph Rodrigues, 70, after he fatally shot John Rowe, 73, at Rodrigues’ ex-wife’s Democracy Street townhome Jan. 21, Freeman said in a news release Thursday.
Police were dispatched at 5:39 p.m. when homeowner Jill Rohner called 911 to report Rodrigues had broken in and tased Rowe, The News & Observer previously reported.
The couple were packing boxes for a move, according to Freeman’s report. Rohner told The N&O in January that she and Rowe were planning to move in together, and she’d been working to sell her home.
“I didn’t recognize it as [Rodrigues],” she said at the time. “He had a big mask on and a hood. He plowed through the front door.”
Rodrigues fled, but as Rohner was on the phone with 911, he returned, this time armed with a .44-caliber lever-action rifle, shooting Rowe, Freeman’s report states.
As Rohner fled to a neighbor’s home, Rodrigues hid out in the attached garage, taking cover behind a silver sedan, according to the report.
When officers arrived, they found an injured Rowe on the kitchen floor. As they tried to clear the house, Rodrigues ignored their commands to drop his weapon and began shooting at officers, Freeman’s report says. Officer Max Gillick hid in a screened-in porch with Rowe as his fellow officers waited for the department’s Selective Enforcement Unit, which is trained to handle active shooters.
“Officers repeatedly directed commands to Rodrigues to drop his firearms and come out of the garage with his hands above his head,” the report states. “However, Rodrigues continued to sporadically discharge his firearm into the residence.”
Throughout the encounter, officers begged Rodrigues to stand down, including telling him to “just come out and talk to us,” according to Freeman’s report. But he remained steadfast until the Selective Enforcement Unit arrived, breaching the garage with an armored vehicle and throwing a flashbang inside, the report states.
“Immediately thereafter, bodycam video from officers staged inside the house shows Mr. Rodrigues entering the residence and firing his rifle at Officer Gillick,” the report says. “Officer Gillick, who was next to Mr. Rowe on the screened-in porch, was struck and critically injured.”
That’s when officers fired on Rodrigues, fatally wounding him. He was pronounced dead at the scene, and Rowe later died at the hospital.
Gillick was released from the hospital in March, city officials previously said.
A number of weapons were found on or near Rodrigues, including a “ghost gun” handgun and a flare gun, and handmade explosives were discovered in his vehicle, according to Freeman’s report and a report from then-Police Chief Estella Patterson.
A report by The N&O in January found that Rodrigues could not legally own firearms in North Carolina or his home state of New Jersey because of his previous domestic violence convictions involving Rohner. He had been convicted twice of stalking and harassing her, and Rohner had a permanent domestic violence restraining order against him, court records showed.
“Officers were justified in using deadly force to stop Mr. Rodrigues because he was an active threat to them and others on the scene and in the surrounding area,” Freeman wrote. “Throughout the incident, Rodrigues continued to fire weapons every few minutes until ultimately stopped when fatally shot.”
This story was originally published April 10, 2025 at 6:03 PM.
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