It began as the question of why DeKalb County police shot to death 12 suspects in 2006. After a year of secrecy, a special grand jury investigation burst into public view Thursday — clearing almost all the officers who fired shots.

The grand jury also exposed possible scandals involving thefts from suspects and evidence tampering at crime scenes.

Louie Favorite / AJC

Natasha Radford comforts her mother, Jasmine Radford, outside the Dekalb County Courthouse just before a grand jury reported that two fatal police shootings should be probed for wrongdoing.

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The investigation labeled 11 of the 12 fatal shootings by DeKalb officers "justified," a finding that drew tearful denunciations from relatives of some slain suspects.

"We're reburying our child again today," said an angry Chandra Harden, whose 19-year-old son, Deon Studiemyer, was fatally shot in August 2006 by an off-duty officer who said Studiemyer was breaking into his home. "I feel like we're standing over his casket again."

Overall, the grand jury reviewed 31 use-of-force cases or deaths of suspects in custody of any law enforcement agency in DeKalb, finding six unjustified. But it recommended that one DeKalb officer who shot a fleeing suspect and four officers from other agencies who participated in a fatal federal raid should be subjected to a criminal investigation.

And the grand jury reported its suspicions that DeKalb police crime scene technicians stole money from two crime scenes and that a former top official in the county medical examiner's office expressed bias in favor of officers who shot suspects and perhaps even planted a knife at a shooting scene.

The knife was discovered after the shooting of Lorenzo Matthews, the same fleeing suspect whose killing the grand jury ruled unjustified. The weapon was found only after Dewey Brown, formerly the director who oversaw investigators in the DeKalb medical examiner's office, was seen walking in the area by himself.

Brown, who retired in January, declined to comment to a reporter who visited his home Thursday. He denied any wrongdoing when questioned by the grand jury.

Attempts to reach officers criticized in the report were unsuccessful. The DeKalb police department did not respond to requests for comment from its officers and other law enforcement agencies involved also declined comment.

District Attorney Gwen Keyes Fleming said her office will investigate the medical examiner's office, the accounting of money taken from crime scenes by the police crime scene unit, the DeKalb officer found unjustified in shooting Matthews and two other DeKalb officers the grand jury targeted for possible prosecution in nonfatal cases.

She said the U.S. attorney's office will investigate the federal raid in which a suspect was killed.

But it was the large number of shootings ruled justified that angered family members of slain suspects.

Ruenell Grier, whose 22-year-old son Larry Bernard Pitts II was killed in August 2006, bitterly denounced the report. "We're not going to get any justice in DeKalb County," she said.

Relatives of Matthews could not be reached for comment. He was fatally shot Sept. 12, 2006 by two officers investigating an armed robbery. The officers said the 21-year-old Matthews emerged into darkness from an apartment and ran at them with what they thought might be a weapon in his hand.

The grand jury said the shooting by one of the officers, identified as T. Thompson, was not justified because Thompson fired when Matthews was running away and fired again during a foot chase in which Matthews did not present a clear threat.

The federal raid ended in the death of Youwus Vilpre in Lithonia on Oct. 25, 2006. Representatives of several agencies on a task force went to an apartment to arrest Vilpre on weapons charges from Florida. They said Vilpre pointed at them with "something" in his hand, which he pointed at officers despite warnings.

The object in his hand turned out to be a shoe or a sock.

The grand jury did not suggest any of the officers in the "unjustified" shootings acted with malice.

Much of the report's strongest language is directed at the medical examiner's office — especially Brown's involvement in three cases in which police shot suspects in the back.

Although the panel concluded two of those shootings were justified, it said in both those cases Brown was accused of making statements about his desire to "help out" the officers.

In the Matthews case, in which officers shot an apparently unarmed man, the grand jury said Brown's subordinates were surprised to see him walk alone down a trail where the wounded man had fled. Later, a knife was found there.

Brown acknowledged to the grand jury he walked on the trail but said he didn't know anything about a knife. Asked what he would say to the suggestion the knife was planted, Brown replied, "Anybody can make an allegation."

Brown testified he didn't recall saying he wanted to "help out" any officers. He said he might have expressed compassion for officers without taking any inappropriate actions.

Some subordinates also testified Brown later said loudly in a staff meeting that he ordered slain suspect Shakir Hanson Harris' body moved "because I wanted to destroy trace evidence to help the officer." At least one participant said Brown was speaking sarcastically in anger. But other subordinates said they didn't hear such a statement at all, leading the grand jury to conclude someone apparently lied.

The panel said money seized at two crime scenes was not accounted for, and in one case an employee apparently claimed he held cash in his locker for more than a year. The grand jury said Keyes Fleming should investigate whether in fact the money was stolen and then replaced only when suspicions were raised.

Police Chief Terrell Bolton, who took the top DeKalb job early in 2007, promised to investigate all allegations raised by the grand jury and praised the report.

Bolton said he has been working to get the department "out of the ditch" since his arrival and needs more money to do it. He noted the grand jury recommended Tasers, dashboard cameras and audio recorders for all officers. Bolton unsuccessfully sought money in the 2008 county budget for all three of those items.

The grand jury said Tasers might have helped prevent some suspect deaths.

The panel also said DeKalb Officer Dennis Stepnowski might not have been killed by a suspect had officers followed police policy for foot chases. The suspect ambushed Stepnowski when the officer rounded a corner in a foot chase June 29, 2006. The suspect also was killed.

The grand jury recommended an outside review of police shootings and police training.

Bolton said he has accomplished those goals. He said he now brings outside agencies to shooting scenes, meeting with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation before finalizing his reviews of shootings. He noted a consultant was hired in late 2006 to review training, which subsequently was increased.

Bolton said he could not immediately comment on criticisms of specific officers in the report.

The report was silent on whether DeKalb should create a civilian review board or an independent professional police monitor. Atlanta is starting a civilian review board, and a growing number of cities and counties around the country are turning to professionals to investigate police shootings.

The grand jury was not empowered to return criminal indictments because the members saw statements by officers that cannot be used in criminal cases.

Since 2006, DeKalb police have shot and killed one suspect, a knife-wielding man whom officers said lunged at one of them while they tried to disarm him last year. The police department ruled the officers conducted themselves properly.

Two DeKalb officers were shot to death this year, allegedly by a man they were trying to search in an apartment complex.

Staff writers Kristina Torres, Paul Donsky, David Markiewicz, Rhonda Cook and Ty Tagami contributed to this article.