Days before his term ended, Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin pardoned a former Fairfax County police officer who was convicted in a fatal shooting of an unarmed man accused of stealing sunglasses at a mall.
According to a newly released report, former Sgt. Wesley Shifflett received an absolute pardon on Jan. 15 from Youngkin. The pardon comes amid a nationwide debate over legal protections for law enforcement personnel, and when use of force, including deadly force, is justified.
Less than a year ago, Youngkin granted Shifflett clemency in the case, throwing out his three-year prison sentence.
“The deadly force used by Sgt. Wesley Gonzalez Shifflett on February 22, 2023, was both lawful and consistent with the department’s policy and training,” Youngkin wrote in his pardon.
Shifflett was convicted in 2024 of reckless firearm use in the killing of Timothy McCree Johnson in Northern Virginia, though he was acquitted of a manslaughter charge. The former sergeant chased Johnson out of the mall's parking deck and into a densely wooded area.
The body camera video played during his trial showed Shifflett yelling “Get on the ground,” and then firing two shots at Johnson two seconds later. After the shots were fired, Shifflett immediately shouted, “Stop reaching,” and told other officers that he saw Johnson putting his hand in his waistband. During the trial, Shifflett testified that his “motor functions were operating more quickly than I could verbalize.”
Soon after, Johnson can be heard saying in body camera videos, “I’m not reaching for nothing. I don’t have nothing.”
Youngkin based his pardon on a report released by the department in April, concluding that Shifflett's actions were objectively reasonable because he thought Johnson had “posed a significant threat of death or serious injury to him when he used deadly force.”
Johnson's mother, Melissa, rebuffed Youngkin's involvement in the case last year, when he first curtailed Shifflett's sentence.
“Why now do we find it necessary to vacate or not consider the jury’s verdict, and to think that this honorable and fair judge did not sentence within the guidelines that he was afforded to?” she asked at the time.
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Olivia Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
