FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A grand jury has declined to indict a former Northern Virginia police officer after he fatally shot an unarmed shoplifting suspect outside a crowded mall in February.
Authorities took the case to a grand jury to indict Wesley Shifflett, who fatally shot Timothy McCree Johnson outside Tysons Corner Center on February 22.
Fairfax County Commonwealth attorney Steve Descano — who was running for a reform agenda that includes holding police accountable for wrongdoings — had called a press conference Monday, presumably to announce criminal charges.
But the noon press conference was first postponed and then cancelled. Later in the day, Descano released a statement saying he is “evaluating all options” following the grand jury’s decision.
“Since the law did not allow prosecutors to be in the room when the investigating officers made their presentation to the grand jury, I cannot say for sure what information was passed on to the grand jurors,” Descano said.
The shooting occurred after Shifflett and another Fairfax County police officer chased Johnson out of the mall on foot after receiving a report from security guards that Johnson had stolen a pair of sunglasses from a Nordstrom department store.
Dimly lit body camera video shows the chase and shooting. The officer is heard to say “Get on the ground” and later say “stop reaching” as shots are fired. After the shooting, Shifflett tells another officer that he saw Johnson “continually reaching into his waistband”.
A search of the home after the shooting turned up no weapons.
Shifflett’s attorney, Caleb Kershner, praised the grand jury for its decision.
“The grand jury has seen this case for what it is,” Kershner said.
Kershner said Johnson’s death is a tragedy, but that his client acted reasonably when he thought he saw Johnson reach for a gun in his waistband.
Shifflett was fired last month for what Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis called “failing to meet our agency’s expectations, particularly the use of force policy.”
A lawyer for Johnson’s family compared the shooting to an execution. Johnson’s mother, Melissa Johnson, said officers shot her son when all they knew at the time was “that he was black and male and allegedly set off an alarm from a sunglasses shop.”
Johnson family attorney Carl Crews declined to comment Monday on the grand jury’s decision.
Descano said in his statement that he had contacted Johnson’s family Monday morning and told them he expected charges.
“So I can only imagine their pain and shock when they heard the news that the officer – who shot and killed their unarmed son – had not been charged,” he said.
Attorney Kershner said it would be “vindictive and almost anti-police” for Descano to try to get an indictment from another grand jury.
“Thank God the grand jury did the right thing, and the commonwealth attorney’s office now has to accept that,” he said.
