Ex-police officer accused of killing suspected shoplifter is going on trial in Virginia
FAIRFAX, Virginia — A former Northern Virginia police officer is set to go on trial Tuesday in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man suspected of stealing sunglasses.
Wesley Shifflett is charged with involuntary manslaughter and reckless use of a weapon in connection with the killing of 37-year-old Timothy McCree Johnson near a busy shopping center on February 22, 2023. Shifflett has pleaded not guilty.
Shifflett and another Fairfax County police officer pursued Johnson on foot after receiving a report from security officers that Johnson had stolen a pair of sunglasses from a Nordstrom department store in Tysons Corner Center.
Police bodycam footage shows the nighttime chase and shootout. Shifflett can be heard ordering Johnson to stay on the ground and later “not to reach.” Both officers open fire, but Shifflett fires the fatal shot.
Later, Shifflett tells another officer that he saw the suspect reach into his waistband for a gun. Police searched for a gun but found none.
The Fairfax County Police Department fired Shifflett the following month for what Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis described as “failure to meet the expectations of our agency, specifically our use of force policy.”
At first a grand jury declined to indict Shifflett in the shooting, but Fairfax County District Attorney Steve Descano sought and obtained court approval for a special grand jury to reexamine, which he said gave prosecutors more power to oversee the investigation. The second panel voted to indict Shifflett.
Descano said at the time that an involuntary manslaughter charge is appropriate when the killing resulted from “gross or reckless conduct” that was not malicious.
Caleb Kershner, Shifflett’s attorney, criticized Descano’s decision to empanel a special grand jury and the subsequent indictment.
“Few people understand what it’s like to have a gun pointed at you and regularly be at risk of dying,” Kershner said. said at the time“These men and women in uniform serve by putting their lives on the line every day.”
During recent hearings, attorneys bickered over what evidence should be presented at trial.
Barry Zweig, the lead prosecutor, filed a motion to introduce evidence that Shifflett had pointed his gun at other shoplifters in other cases, but District Court Judge Randy Bellows denied the request.
Bellows agreed to allow Shifflett’s defense team to present evidence about Johnson’s criminal past.
Johnson was 17 years old when he attempted to steal a vehicle from an off-duty officer with the Maryland Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. As he attempted to flee in the vehicle, Johnson nearly struck the officer, who responded by shooting him. In 2004, Johnson pleaded guilty as a juvenile to second-degree assault.
Johnson also pleaded guilty in 2019 to involuntary manslaughter in a fatal drunken-driving accident in Washington, a case Bellows ruled should not be presented to the jury, a spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office said Monday.