The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division launched physique digital camera footage Friday exhibiting the moments main as much as a deputy fatally capturing a 27-year-old Black girl in Lancaster.
Niani Finlayson, who authorities mentioned was armed with a kitchen knife, was shot in entrance of her 9-year-old daughter on Dec. 4. She had known as the police for assist throughout a home dispute with a person authorities described as her boyfriend.
The footage launched Friday reveals that the deputy who shot her was first handed a Taser, however he dropped it and fired a handgun as an alternative.
Investigators are persevering with to assessment the case, which is anticipated to be despatched to the district legal professional’s workplace to find out if any costs will probably be filed.
“Any time a life is misplaced, whatever the circumstances, is a troublesome time for everybody concerned,” L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna mentioned in an announcement. “The division launched the body-worn digital camera footage forward of the authorized time-frame to reveal our dedication to transparency and the visible illustration of the information on this case. As the great assessment course of continues, the division will achieve extra perception into the incident with the aim of enhancing public security.”
Shortly after 6 p.m. on Dec. 4, Finlayson known as 911 to report that her boyfriend wouldn’t go away her Lancaster condo, authorities mentioned. Throughout a frantic name with a police dispatcher, audio of which was launched together with the physique digital camera footage, Finlayson mentioned the person wouldn’t go away her home or “get his arms off of me.”
Three deputies heard screaming as they approached the condo within the 2100 block of East Avenue J-8. Physique digital camera video reveals one of many deputies making an attempt to kick within the entrance door.
The door opens and Finlayson seems — holding what authorities say was an 8-inch kitchen knife.
“I’m going to stab him,” she will be heard telling the deputies earlier than shifting out of sight towards the lounge.
The physique digital camera video reveals a deputy, recognized by the division as Ty Shelton, getting into the condo carefully behind one other deputy. On his approach in, Shelton asks the opposite deputy to present him a Taser.
After deputies moved into the condo, Finlayson will be seen standing subsequent to a person, with one hand on him and the opposite showing to carry a knife. Shelton drops the Taser , raises his handgun and fires 4 pictures at Finlayson.
The person then yells, “Why did you shoot?”
Finlayson was taken to a hospital the place she later died. The person was arrested on suspicion of kid abuse and assault on a peace officer however was later launched, in keeping with the sheriff’s division.
Shelton didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Finlayson’s household filed a declare final week signaling they plan to sue the county and the division for $30 million.
“She was not partaking in any kind of bodily threatening habits in any respect,” Bradley Gage, the household’s legal professional, mentioned at a information convention Dec. 21. “The truth is, she was the sufferer.”
Shelton was concerned in at the least one different deadly capturing in Lancaster, in keeping with county information. In 2020, Shelton killed 62-year-old Michael Thomas as he and one other deputy tried to detain him throughout a home violence name.
The deputies mentioned Thomas tried to seize one in all their weapons. His fiancee disputed that, telling an area TV station that Thomas had refused to let the deputies enter the home and was turning away from them when he was shot.
Prosecutors declined to file costs in opposition to Shelton in that case, county information present, although they acknowledged “there might have been different affordable choices out there” to him as an alternative of killing Thomas.
The union representing L.A. County sheriff’s deputies urged the general public to permit for a radical investigation earlier than coming to any remaining conclusions.
“This was clearly a tragic consequence, an consequence attributable to a violent and extremely unstable scenario in that condo that night time,” Richard Pippin, president of the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs mentioned in an emailed assertion Friday.
“Our deputy discovered himself confronted with a lady who threatened to stab somebody and was then poised, knife in hand, to hold out that menace. This video exemplifies the profound challenges and no-win conditions our deputies incessantly face. The true motives of teams or people who jumped out with outrageous assertions earlier than even seeing the video ought to be obvious to everybody.”
