A Fairfax
County officer who police say fatally shot a suspected shoplifter near Tysons
Corner Center has been fired from the police department, and newly released
body camera video shows he did not identify a threat or weapon on the suspect
before firing his weapon.
Sgt.
Wesley Shifflett's actions did not “meet the expectations” of the police
department and Shifflett did not follow use-of-force protocols, Fairfax County
Police Chief Kevin Davis said in a news conference Thursday.
The
department released surveillance and body camera footage of the incident, 29
days after Timothy Johnson was shot and killed.
Johnson,
37, was suspected of shoplifting a pair of sunglasses when police chased him to
a wooded area by the Northern Virginia mall on Feb. 22. He died a short time
later at a hospital.
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Surveillance
video shows Johnson going into the Nordstrom store at the mall that evening and
looking at designer sunglasses.
An
employee with Nordstrom Asset Protection saw Johnson act suspiciously and
believed he was about to steal some sunglasses when they called the Tysons
Urban Team, who responded to the store, police said.
An officer
in plain clothes saw Johnson near the anti-theft alarm at one of the store's
exits when the alarm went off, police said. Johnson then turned and walked
toward the parking garage exit, according to police.
A few
moments later, police say an officer in plain clothes saw Johnson set off a
second alarm as he went through it and left the store near the parking garage,
which can be seen on surveillance video.
Officers
then followed Johnson into the parking garage and saw him go down a stairwell.
Video from the parking garage shows an officer running to the stairwell to try
to catch up to Johnson.
One
uniformed and one officer in plain clothes chased Johnson as he exited the
parking garage stairwell, ran through the parking garage and toward Route 7.
Body
camera video from the uniformed officer, Sgt. Shifflett, shows the officer
running through the parking lot At one point, the Shifflett can be heard saying
"He's crossing over! He's crossing over, guys."
Officers
continued to pursue Johnson as he changed direction and ran across Fashion
Boulevard toward a wooded area.
"Going
into the woods, through the woods," Shifflett says. He then shouts to
Johnson, "Get on the ground! Get on the ground!"
While
following Johnson into the wood line, both officers fired their guns. Johnson
was hit in the chest one time.
Three pops
can be heard in the video, and the third apparent gunshot is heard as one of
the officers yells, "Stop reaching! Stop reaching!"
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