Law enforcement expert speaks on bodycam footage of Cranston police fatally shooting murder suspect

CRANSTON, R.I. (WLNE) — Cranston police released the body camera footage from a high-speed chase and deadly standoff that spanned through three communities last month when a dispute with a neighbor turned into a triple shooting in Johnston.

Since the release of the bodycam footage, ABC 6 News spoke with an expert about the way officers handled the situation.

Todd McGhee, law enforcement expert, said, “By and large, they responded to that call for service in a textbook manner.”

James Harrison was accused of shooting two neighbors and his own mother on Ligian Court.

On the morning of May 24, police found a teenage girl suffering from gunshot wounds on the front lawn. Her father, 44-year-old Thomas “T.J.” May, was found dead in the family’s garage.

Harrison’s mother was also found dead inside her home next door.

May had filed a trespass order against Harrison the night before, after he told police he found him looking into his daughter’s window. When an officer returned in the morning to serve that order, he saw Harrison leaving the neighborhood and found the shooting victims.

Harrison then led police on a chase through Cranston. McGhee explained how the pursuit and standoff was anything but easy.

“Going through city streets with a large police presence in pursuit, it can only be chaotic,” McGhee said.

“Taking real-time information and processing this information and really the pressure of making the right decision all the way through — law enforcement needs to be right 100% of the time,” McGhee told ABC 6.

Cranston police said the investigation remains ongoing.

In a release, the department said that the footage does not represent a complete image of the day’s events and should be considered with other evidence.