Fargo Police Department, AG Wrigley Break Down Officer-Involved Shooting

The November 13th death of 65-year-old Peter Greco has been considered by many to be a case of "suicide by cop."

FARGO, N.D. – North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley explained his presence at a news conference held at Fargo Police headquarters Wednesday, stressing the need for transparency when it comes to sensitive matters.

“The public deserves to know that we aren’t just checking boxes, going, ‘Oh, that’s fine. They were in uniform, right? Must be fine’,” said Wrigley.

“That’s not what gets done.”

He then hashed out, in painstaking detail, the events that led up to the shooting death of 65-year-old Peter Greco outside his home on the morning of November 13 – including the fraught relationship between Greco and the FPD that stretched back well over a decade.

“Mr. Greco was well known to the Fargo Police Department,” said Wrigley. “As far back as 2008.”

The FPD says that Greco exited his home walking, as opposed to crawling on all fours as he had been instructed, and advanced towards the officers carrying what appeared to be a .357 Magnum. When he aimed the weapon at officers on scene, Sgt. Lucas Mock and Officer Princeten Harris felt the need to respond with lethal force.

Chief David Zibolski agrees.

“At the juncture where he points that gun at them, they really had no other alternative but to use deadly force.”

Later on, the .357 was revealed to be a pellet gun.

The North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation found that the officers in question did not do anything wrong, a finding backed up by internal investigation at the FPD.

Though that means they are eligible to return to work immediately, Zibolski emphasized that it will take time for them to move on from this tragedy.

“We have a lot of mental health things in place,” he said, “but we’re also constructing a reintegration plan to assimilate them back into regular duty.”