By Brian Trompeter
A Fairfax County grand jury on April 17 decline to indict a Fairfax County police officer who fatally shot an alleged shoplifter in Tysons Feb. 22 – a move that disappointed the county’s commonwealth’s attorney and may help the fired officer get his job back.
Sgt. Wesley Shifflett and Pfc. James Sadler, both members of the police department’s Tysons Urban Team, that evening responded to a reported theft at Nordstrom in Tysons Corner Center.
The suspect – Timothy McCree Johnson, 37, of Washington, D.C. – had concealed designer sunglasses, according to the store’s asset-protection personnel.
The store’s anti-theft alarm sounded as Johnson exited near a parking garage. Shifflett, who was in uniform, and Sadler, who was in plain clothes, pursued him across the parking lot and into wooded area, all the while commanding him to get on the ground, police said.
Both officers discharged their service pistols, and a round fired by Shifflett stuck Johnson in the chest. Johnson later died from his wound.
Police subsequently searched the wooded area where Johnson was shot, but did not recover any weapons.
The police department, with which Shifflett had served for seven years, fired him in mid-March following review of Shifflett’s body-camera footage. (Sadler, who was not wearing a camera, was placed on administrative leave after the incident.)
Shifflett’s attorney, Caleb Kershner, said the grand jury determined there was no probable cause to charge his client.
“I’m not surprised at all,” Kershner said after the decision. “I anticipated that even though you can indict a ham sandwich, the facts are pretty clear in this case that Officer Shifflett acted according to his training and within the bounds of the law.”
While the Tysons incident was an “incredible, grievous situation,” he said, the legal standard is if a reasonable person or police officer perceives something he sees as a threat against himself or another person, he may use lethal force to protect himself.
“When someone has turned and faced you and refuses to follow commands and begins digging right where a gun would be kept, a concealed weapon within their waistband, I think any reasonable person would believe they’re about to be shot,” Kershner said.
In such situations, officers could be killed within seconds and “Sgt. Shifflett believed he was about ready to die,” he said.
If Johnson had had a weapon, the case would not have reached this point, but the suspect’s actions regardless would have led Shifflett to the same decision, Kershner said.
“He reacted according to his training and he truly was in incredible fear,” Kershner said. “He thought he was a dead man and wasn’t going home that night.”
Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, who canceled a planned April 17 press conference on the matter, issued a statement following the grand jury’s decision.
“Earlier this morning I sat with Timothy Johnson’s family and told them I expected an indictment to come today in the killing of their son, so I can only imagine their pain and shock when they received the news that the officer – who shot and killed their unarmed son – was not indicted,” his remarks read.
“Since, by law, no prosecutors were permitted to be present in the room when the investigating officers made their presentation to the grand jury, I can’t say for sure what information was conveyed to the grand jurors,” Descano continued. “In light of this outcome, I am evaluating all options on the path forward and continue to grieve Timothy’s loss.”
Shifflett is appealing his administrative separation from the department, and Kershner predicted he would emerge victorious.
County officials are forcing Shifflett to “go through a grievance process that’s never been used by any other officer, not affording him the opportunity to choose a couple of different paths that are under the police department’s procedures,” Kershner said.
Shifflett’s case has been strange and poorly handled from the get-go, his lawyer said. Any attempts to try and indict him again would be “incredibly unusual” and likely poorly received by both the police department and county residents, he said.
Shifflett’s account of the incident has been consistent throughout and backed up by the camera footage, Kershner added.
