A grieving mother is calling for an independent review after Fairfax County police officers fatally shot her son, who they suspected of shoplifting from Tysons Corner Center.
Two officers working at the Northern Virginia mall confronted 37-year-old Timothy Johnson as he exited the mall Wednesday night after getting an alert about someone who stole a pair of designer sunglesses at the Nordstrom store, police said.
The officers then chased Johnson outside the mall and into a wooded area nearby, where they fired at him, shooting him once in the chest, police said. He died at a hospital a short time later.
Johnson's mother, Melissa Johnson, said she wants to know why deadly force was used for someone accused of shoplifting and whether police violated department policy.
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"Was shoplifting right? Absolutely not. But we have laws in place to address shoplifting," she said. "Should my son have been murdered because he shoplifted from the mall?"
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said last week his department didn't know yet if Timothy Johnson was armed. Officers found no weapon during their two-day search of the wooded area.
"We really just want the truth. We have these half truths and we don’t know," Melissa Johnson said.
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Melissa Johnson said Davis unfairly disparaged her son when he spoke to reporters shortly after the shooting and said Timothy Johnson had a “significant violent criminal history.”
"I felt like it deprived me as a parent of my right to grieve because it immediatley sent me in, like, mama bear mode that now my son is being villianized because the chief decided to use the descriptive word 'violent,'" she said.
The Fairfax County NAACP has demanded the police department immediately release unedited body camera video of the incident, the names of the officers involved and any complaint history for those officers. The organization also is calling on the department to develop a foot pursuit policy.
"A person committing a misdemeanor should not … the deadly force should not be used to apprehend that person. In this case, it looks like that’s what we have," the Johnson family's attorney Carl Crews said.
"We just have to do better. What has to change? What policies, practices and-or procedures need to be changed in order for this situation not to happen again?" Melissa Johnson said.
In a statement to News4, Fairfax County police said it is conducting its own administrative review and the police auditor would conduct an independent review.
The department plans to release the names of the officers involved within 10 days and is required to release the body camera footage within 30 days from the incident.
