Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney James Hingeley has determined that the police-involved shooting of a Charlottesville man in April was “justified,” and that he will not bring charges against the Waynesboro Police Department detective who fired seven fatal shots at the suspect at the tragic end of an hour-long standoff.
“Given the evidence provided in this investigation, the Commonwealth’s Attorney finds that there is no criminal liability because (the officer’s) actions were justified to defend himself and others from an armed and dangerous individual who was threatening law enforcement officers with the use of deadly force,” Hingeley wrote in the report released by his office on Friday on the April 10 shooting death of Kevin D. Taylor II, 29, who was struck once in the back of the head, once in the back, and had an additional graze wound to his back.
ICYMI
Taylor was a suspect in a shooting at Parkway Village Apartments in Waynesboro that had left one man injured with a gunshot wound to the thigh.
Taylor fled the scene, and officers began a pursuit after spotting his vehicle run a red light on Hopeman Parkway at a high rate of speed, before he made his way onto Main Street and eventually to Interstate 64.
Taylor crashed his vehicle at the 101 mile marker in Albemarle County, and his vehicle came to a stop at the 102.2 mile mark, two miles inside the Albemarle County line.
Three Waynesboro police officers who had been in pursuit commanded Taylor to show his hands and surrender, but according to the Commonwealth’s Attorney report, he refused, and indicated that he wanted police to shoot him, telling officers more than 20 times, “I’m dying today,” or saying some form of “I wanna die.”
A trained negotiator from the Albemarle County Police Department took over communications with Taylor about 20 minutes into the standoff, according to the report, and Taylor continued to indicate his desire to die by suicide-by-cop, lunging toward officers several times yelling “shoot me,” and after being asked by the negotiator how police could resolve the situation peacefully, he responded, “Fire off every shot you’ve got, peacefully.”
The negotiator was able to make contact with Taylor’s mother by phone in an effort to try to de-escalate the situation, but Taylor’s demeanor began to shift at this point, according to the report.
He yelled to his mother that he was sorry, and that he loved her, and as the back-and-forth continued, one of the officers fired what the report termed a “less-than-lethal round” at Taylor, who retreated into his vehicle and began to move across the front seats, after having indicated earlier that he had a gun in the car.
It was here that an officer from the Waynesboro contingent, identified in the report as “R.B.,” began to fire the volley of shots that would mortally wound Taylor.
Police later recovered a .40 caliber handgun from the front passenger seat of Taylor’s vehicle, and a .45 caliber handgun from the space between the driver’s seat and the center console, according to the report released on Friday.
“While Taylor’s death under these circumstances is tragic and regrettable, it must be noted that law enforcement spent nearly an hour attempting to de-escalate the situation and safely apprehend Taylor, while Taylor tried again and again to create a situation in which officers had no choice but to shoot him to protect themselves and others,” Hingeley concluded.
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Chris Graham
