FAIRFAX, Va. — 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.
“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.” During cross-examination and in closing arguments, prosecutors criticized Shifflett’s decisions leading up to the shooting, including his choice to chase Johnson into the wooded area at night before waiting for backup or turning on a flashlight. Prosecutor Jenna Sands argued that Shifflett’s decision to fire two shots, on the run, in a crowded area, constituted reckless discharge of a firearm.
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