A jury on Friday acquitted a former police officer in Virginia of involuntary manslaughter after he fatally shot a shoplifting suspect last year outside a busy shopping mall.

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A jury on Friday acquitted a former police officer in Virginia of involuntary manslaughter after he fatally shot a shoplifting suspect outside a busy shopping mall.

But the jury did convict the former police sergeant, Wesley Shifflett, of reckless handling of a firearm in connection with the shooting.

Prosecutors argued that Shifflett, then a sergeant with Fairfax County Police, acted recklessly when he shot and killed an unarmed man, Timothy McCree Johnson, after a short foot chase outside Tysons Corner Center in February 2023.

Shifflett testified in his own defense and claimed self defense. He said he saw Johnson, 37, reaching into his waistband after falling down during the chase, and he was worried that Johnson might be drawing a weapon.

  •  unmagical   ( @unmagical@lemmy.ml ) 
    20•29 days ago

    “At that moment, that was the most scared I had been in my life because I thought at any moment he would pull out a gun and just start shooting me,” he said during his testimony at trial, later adding: “I didn’t have the luxury to wait and see a gun because I knew in an instant I could be dead.”

    Then you shouldn’t be a police officer.

    The dude was reaching into his waistband after he’d fallen down. How the fuck do we know he wasn’t just pulling up his pants?

    Also stealing something is not an action warranting deadly force. Stuff can be replaced, there’s insurance, and whatever store he robbed from ain’t gonna suffer. You think they’re just gonna take whatever blood covered loaf of bread and put it back on the shelf?