Why won’t the Park Police explain why it shot and killed a man?

BY NOW it is difficult to resist the impression that the federal government is engaged in a coverup in the death of a 25-year-old accountant, Bijan Ghaisar, shot to death by U.S. Park Police last November. That was eight months ago — eight months in which neither the Park Police nor the agency to which it reports, the Interior Department; nor the FBI, which is investigating the incident; nor the Justice Department has released information.

We generally reject conspiracy theories, but the government’s handling of the killing of Mr. Ghaisar is eroding our resistance. After eight months, it’s past time to put the unavoidable question to the relevant U.S. officials — Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director Christopher A. Wray. What does the government have to hide?

Why won’t Mr. Wray discuss the case with Rep. Don Beyer (D), who represents the Northern Virginia district where Mr. Ghaisar was shot? (When Mr. Beyer requested a meeting, Mr. Wray refused.) Why won’t Mr. Zinke authorize the Park Police to release the names of the two officers who fired nine shots at the apparently unarmed Mr. Ghaisar, hitting him three times in the head, following a minor fender bender in which Mr. Ghaisar himself was rear-ended? Why won’t Mr. Sessions instruct prosecutors and FBI investigators to come clean with their findings?

 Why have none of the agencies offered even a bare-bones account to explain why the police opened fire on Mr. Ghaisar, who, a video of the incident strongly suggests, appeared to present no threat to himself, the officers or anyone else? (The video was recorded and subsequently released by Fairfax County police, whose cruiser trailed the Park Police vehicle but who took no part in the shooting.)

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