A former Fairfax County police officer who fired the shot that killed a shoplifting suspect outside of Tysons Corner mall in February has been indicted for involuntary manslaughter by a special grand jury.
The jury indicted Wesley Shifflett in the death of Timothy McCree Johnson, according to a news release from Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano.
Descano requested the special grand jury after a regular grand jury decided in April not to indict Shifflett in the death of the unarmed 37-year-old DC man. Descano hinted after the April decision that he was disappointed with the decision. Under the law, he could not be in the room during the grand jury’s proceedings.
The police department in March fired Shifflett, who had been a sergeant, for what Police Chief Kevin Davis called “a failure to live up to the expectations of our agency, in particular use of force policies.”
Shifflett and another officer chased and shot McCree after a security guard said Johnson stole sunglasses from Nordstrom’s.
Descano, who has made the prosecution of police misconduct allegations a priority, said, “The work of public safety includes charging officers for crimes when such actions are legally warranted. After reviewing the evidence in this case, I believe that probable cause existed that Shifflett committed a crime, and that the entirety of the evidence should be put to a jury of community members.”
Descano went on to say, “Our nation’s justice system has historically been stacked in favor of protecting powerful institutions and individuals, and it is no small feat that the grand jurors returned a true bill after reviewing this matter.”
He said he grieves for the Johnson family.
Wesley Shifflett is presumed not guilty since he had not been tried. A court date for him will be set on October 20.
Virginia rarely uses special grand juries. With special grand jury proceedings, a commonwealth’s attorney may be present during the investigatory stage.
The only other time Descano sought a special grand jury, it involved the 2017 shooting of Bijan Ghaisar, 25, of McLean, by U.S. Park Police. Ghaisar was shot after he drove away from an Alexandria fender-bender and officers chased him down the George Washington Parkway into a residential Fairfax County neighborhood. A federal judge dismissed that case. Ghaisar’s family reached a $5 million civil settlement with the federal government in March.
Feature image, stock.adobe.com
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