Amid mounting pressure from local leaders, Arlington County police on Friday released body-camera footage showing the moments before officers fatally shot a man following an hours-long standoff earlier this year.
In a roughly 15-minute compilation of footage, officers are seen attempting to arrest 33-year-old Shawn Valn after police said he threatened a woman outside a 7-Eleven, then barricaded himself with a knife inside the store on Columbia Pike on May 8.
After hours of trying to negotiate with Valn, officers forced open the store’s door, at which point Valn “advanced towards officers” with the knife raised, Arlington Police Chief Andy Penn said at a news conference Friday. Two officers opened fire on Valn, who was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Penn said officers had made a “prolonged effort” to reach a peaceful resolution to the standoff. In the body-camera video, which shows only a small part of the hours-long confrontation, officers can be seen repeatedly asking Valn to come outside. It also shows officers deploying Tasers, chemical irritants and other “less lethal” weapons to try to subdue him.
“Ultimately, this incident ended in the tragic loss of life,” Penn said.
Penn said the shooting is being investigated by the Northern Virginia Critical Incident Response Team. He declined to identify the officers involved in the shooting, citing the ongoing investigation, but said both remain on the force on “restricted duty.” An internal probe is expected to follow once the criminal investigation is complete.
A special grand jury is also investigating the shooting. Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, commonwealth’s attorney for Arlington County, said in a statement last month that her office was obligated to determine “whether or not the evidence establishes probable cause that a crime occurred.”
A spokesperson for Dehghani-Tafti declined to comment Friday.
The Arlington Coalition of Police, the union representing county police officers, said in a statement Friday that it agreed with Dehghani-Tafti’s call for an independent investigation and that its members “look forward to being given the opportunity to serve as witnesses in front of the special grand jury to ensure a full account of the event is provided to jurors.”
The body-cam footage released Friday shows that the first officer responded to the scene at 6:19 p.m. and found Valn pacing in front of the 7-Eleven wearing what appears to be a high-visibility work vest and holding a knife. The officer draws his firearm and repeatedly shouts for Valn to put his hands up, the video shows. As additional officers arrive, Valn is seen entering the store while customers and employees escape.
Police attempted to negotiate with Valn for nearly two hours, but many of his responses are unintelligible in the footage. Moments before the shooting, officers in tactical gear are seen standing in front of the door to a storage room where Valn barricaded himself. As one forces open the door, another officer with a police dog approaches the entryway, and Valn is seen with his arms raised and a knife in his hand.
Amid shouts and barking, a flurry of gunshots is heard and Valn is seen lying on the floor.
The police department had faced calls to release body-camera video from the incident. Arlington County Board members had directed police officials to release the footage by Oct. 16 and sharply criticized the department when that deadline was not met. Board Chair Matt de Ferranti said at a meeting this week that releasing the footage was “a burning priority.”
In a statement Friday, the county board called Valn’s death a “tragedy” that has impacted the community as a whole. The board said the push to release the footage “reflects our commitment to ensuring the public has access to available information about this incident while recognizing investigations are ongoing and pending.”
Penn said Friday that the department’s practice has been to wait until a criminal investigation was complete before releasing footage. He said the department was in the process of updating its policy governing the release of body-camera footage to avoid similar delays in the future.
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