Written in GLOBAL on December 30, 2023 · 10:32 am
A police officer shot and killed a black woman who called the police to report domestic violence against her exboyfriend. The case occurred on December 4 in Lancaster, a city north of Los Angeles in the United States, but the police officer's body camera footage was only released this Friday (29).
The victim, Niani Finlayson, 27, called police to report an argument with her expartner. “He won't leave my house…He won't leave me alone…I need the police here now,” she said screaming in a call to 911 (American Emergency Medical Services).
Camera footage shows two police officers arriving at the apartment. The woman answered the door next to a nineyearold child, Finlayson's daughter, who said she had been attacked by her mother's exboyfriend.
Finlayson, who was holding a kitchen knife, said he was “about to stab him” for hurting the child. Shortly after entering the home, one of the officers, identified as Ty Shelton, shoots the woman four times, causing her to fall to the ground. The child witnessed the scene.
The officer had a Taser, a nonlethal electric shock device, but preferred to use a firearm against the victim.
Finlayson was taken to hospital but did not survive. Finlayson's exboyfriend was arrested for child abuse and assaulting a police officer, but was eventually released.
The victim's family filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department. According to The Guardian, the officer responsible for the shooting had already responded to the killing of a 61yearold man during another domestic violence call. The case occurred in 2020, weeks after the killing of George Floyd.