Body camera footage released Wednesday shows an Arizona cop responding to a shoplifting call wasted no time before shooting a Navajo woman five times in the chest after she approached him with a small pair of medical scissors.
“She had a pair of scissors that she used to cut her hair’s split-ends,” David Villaescusa, Loreal Tsingine’s cousin who helped raise her since she was ten, told nativenewsonline.net.
“She stood only five feet tall and weighed less than 100 lbs,” he said.
“Shipley, on the other hand, stands over six feet tall and weighs over 200 lbs. I don’t think he had to shoot her.”
According to the press release, the subject displayed a weapon which the responding officer perceived as a substantial threat.
As a result of the perceived threat, the officer discharged his firearm, resulting in the death of 27-year-old Loreal Tsingine after attempts to detain her for allegedly shoplifting were unsuccessful.
Last week, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery issued a statement excusing Officer Shipley and said he would not pursue criminal charges against him because he was protecting himself and another officer who felt “threatened” by the small-framed woman.
“After a careful review of the facts surrounding the case, including available video evidence and witness statements from all involved, my office found no evidence of criminal conduct on the part of Officer Shipley,” Montgomery’s statement said.
Montgomery’s statement prompted protestors to stand outside his office holding signs, protesting the County Attorney’s inaction for not disciplining the killer cop.
“Loreal’s Life Matters,” read one protestor’s sign.
“Native Lives Matter,” read another.
Documents originally obtained by 12 News, show Shipley settled working for the Winslow Police Department after unsuccessful attempts to join the Department of Public Safety and the Scottsdale Police Department before he landed at Winslow PD.
Winslow police also made recommendations not to hire Shipley.
During his three-year career working at the Winslow Police Department, Shipley held a suspect at gunpoint a whopping five times, drew his Taser on suspects an alarming four times and used physical force in at least three other situations, according to The Arizona Republic.
On February 19th, 2016 Shipley was reprimanded for violating policy regarding the use and application of a Taser.
Winslow Chief of Police Stephen Garnett reprimanded Shipley, suspending him for a day without pay, placed him on a 6-month probationary period, and mandated he attend training on use-of-force and Taser deployment.
The new body cam footage was released on Wednesday, just five days after County Attorney Montgomery stated he and the police department mandated training on the use of force and Taser deployment
In the video, as Winslow cop Austin Shipley begins to fire his gun five times upon the small, scissor-weilding woman, another cop is seen a couple of feet behind her and appears to be positioning himself to help subdue Loreal Tsingine.
But officer Shipley would shoot first.
Fast.
And ask questions later.
Then, a few short seconds-later, it would be too late to safely subdue Tsingine.
She remained dead after medical emergency personnel was unsuccessful in attempts to revive her for the next 24-minutes.
“I did what I had to do,” Shipley can be heard saying just minutes after murdering the young woman this Easter Sunday.
Yet, according to most observers, Tsingine never actually presents an actual threat to the folks in the area, Shipley claimed Tsingine was a danger to him and his cop-friend who arrived to back him up on the shoplifting call.
In November of 2013, Shipley was reprimanded for violating code of conduct, specifically inappropriate comments to a fifteen-year-old girl.
For that, he received a day of unpaid suspension as well as department-mandated diversity training, which was required to completed within six months.
The 26-year-old, three-year Winslow PD veteran finished police academy training in May 2012 at the Northern Arizona Regional Training Academy at Yavapai College in Prescott, Arizona on his second try due to getting injured during his first attempt .
Navajo women led by tribal officials urged the Department of Justice to investigate the treatment of American Indians in towns that border the Navajo Natinff and urged the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the treatment of American Indians in towns that border the Navajo Nation.
Tsingine’s murder drew an immediate outcry, which led to strained relations between the city of Winslow, and the majority of its Native American populous, strained relations between the city and Native Americans.
According to documents already released from Winslow officials show that two officers who trained Shipley had serious concerns about his work and that one of them recommended he should not serve the city as an officer.
Tsingine’s family made a wrongful-death claim they filed this month as a precursor to future lawsuits seeking $2 million for Tsingine’s husband and $8.5 million for their 8-year-old daughter.
Officer Shipley is on paid leave during the time the Mesa Police Department conducts an internal affairs investigation.
Shipley received compliments and displayed a commitment to DUI enforcement throughout his career and was awarded a cheesy certificate of achievement by Chief Garnett. He was also known at the annual Honoring Heroes Awards Dinner presented by Mothers Against Drunk Driving Arizona*.*
The videos below do not do not show the actual shooting, but the seconds leading up to the shooting.
The one below that shows funeral-goers sharing hugs with Tsingine’s daughter, Tiffany.
Loreal Tsinjine’s daughter, Tiffany, shares hugs with people attending her mother’s funeral.
