Black woman shot by police in US, called 911 to report domestic violence

A 27-year-old woman who called the police to report that she was being attacked by her ex-boyfriend was allegedly killed by a sheriff’s deputy in Los Angeles. According to a report by The Guardian, records showed that the deputy had killed another person in similar circumstances three years ago.

The LA sheriff’s department (LASD) said the woman, Niani Finlayson, called the police on December 4 and “reported that her boyfriend would not leave her alone and then screaming and sounds of a struggle could be heard”.

When deputies arrived at the apartment located in the Lancaster area of LA county, they could hear screaming, said the LASD.

According to the attorney for Finlayson’s family, she was inside the apartment with her nine-year-old daughter after she was injured by her ex-boyfriend. She called the police to remove her ex-boyfriend.

The LASD has so far declined to release body-camera footage of the deputies who were on duty, reported The Guardian. However, the department alleged that Finlayson had a knife and was threatening her ex-boyfriend and that was when deputy Ty Shelton opened fire.

Finlayson’s family denied the police’s statement and said she was a victim of domestic violence who needed help from the police. The cause of her death was confirmed to be from “multiple gunshot wounds”.

Her daughter, Xaisha, witnessed the shooting and said the police were lying about Finlayson threatening them.

Finlayson’s family filed a legal claim against the county and sheriff’s department on Thursday, alleging wrongful death, assault and civil rights violations. They have called for Shelton to be prosecuted.

The LASD said the body-camera footage will be released by next week and a “robust review process” will be conducted to see if department policies and procedures were followed during the shooting.

In a similar case, deputy Ty Shelton killed a 61-year-old man named Michael Thomas on June 11, 2020, according to The Guardian report.

As per the report, then too, Shelton was responding to a potential domestic violence call. Thomas’s girlfriend said she had been having a verbal argument with him, and he had tried to stop the officers from entering. He was unarmed when Shelton shot him in the chest.

The killing was not captured on camera. The case was one in a series of LASD killings that summer that caused widespread protests, and prosecutors declined to file charges against Shelton.