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Gov. Glenn Youngkin commuted the prison sentence of former Fairfax County police Sgt. Wesley Shifflett on Sunday, allowing him to leave custody just days after he was sentenced for recklessly handling a firearm in the fatal shooting of Timothy McCree Johnson outside Tysons Corner Center.
Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy Bellows sentenced Shifflett on Friday, Feb. 28, to five years in prison, with two years suspended. Shifflett also received five years of probation.
Youngkin ordered his immediate release, citing Shifflett’s lack of a criminal record and history as what the governor called an exemplary police officer. Youngkin also said the court had rejected a senior probation and parole officer’s recommendation that Shifflett receive neither incarceration nor supervised probation.
Shifflett’s attorney confirmed that he was released Sunday after serving only a few days behind bars. The commutation does not prevent him from appealing his conviction.
Shifflett fired the shot that killed Johnson, a 37-year-old Washington, D.C., resident, on Feb. 22, 2023. Shifflett and another officer chased Johnson after he was accused of stealing two pairs of sunglasses from the Nordstrom store at Tysons Corner Center.
The pursuit continued out of the mall, across a parking lot and into a wooded area. Both officers drew their weapons and fired after allegedly seeing Johnson tug at his waistband. Johnson was struck once in the chest and later died.
A jury acquitted Shifflett of manslaughter in October but convicted him of recklessly handling a firearm. The conviction centered on his decision to fire near the often-crowded Tysons Corner Center area.
Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano sharply condemned Youngkin’s intervention. Descano had obtained Shifflett’s indictment through a special grand jury after an initial grand jury declined to indict the former officer.
Descano accused Youngkin of commuting the sentence for political gain and called the decision an insult to Virginians who value an impartial justice system.