BRACEY, Virginia — The Virginia Beach Police Department (VBPD) held a press conference Monday to show videos of a stolen car investigation from Dec. 1, during which an officer shot a man to death.
The police department had previously said that the police officer, who has not been named, shot 28-year-old Deshawn Whitaker because he was pointing a gun at him. The body camera and car dashboard videos showed both Whitaker and his wife with guns that day.
Here's the timeline VBPD shared Monday, and what the videos confirmed:
- A police officer is driving through the Newtown Baker Crossing parking lot
- At 3:30 p.m., people are getting out of a parked car as the officer drives up to it
- The officer's camera scans the license plate, and returns a hit for a stolen vehicle
- He pulls up behind it, and parks the police car in the parking lot driving lane
- The officer approaches the driver, Whitaker, and pulls handcuffs out
- Whitaker stays still for a moment, then runs away from the officer on foot
- Whitaker drops a red bag on ground as he's running
- At 3:31 p.m., the officer comes back to the car and tries to catch the front seat passenger (Jacqueline Ortiz-Whitaker, 20)
- Ortiz-Whitaker is starting to run from the car
- The officer grabs her by the back of her sweatshirt, she falls to the ground
- The officer is pinning her to the ground, and she screams several times. You can hear the officer repeatedly telling her to put down her gun, at one point yelling, "If you move, I will shoot you."
- She reaches repeatedly for a gun in her waistband, grabbing the handle more than once
- The officer grabs her wrist and tries to pin it to the ground
- At 3:32 p.m. Whitaker returns with a gun, points it at the officer
- The officer turns and shoots four times at Whitaker
- The video shows a gun drop to the ground from where Whitaker had been standing
- 55 seconds later, Norfolk Fire-Rescue gets to the scene
- Firefighters check on the officer and Ortiz-Whitaker, then go over to Whitaker
- Medics take him to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital
- Whitaker dies from injuries in the hospital later that night
Author's note: The video below shows a police officer shooting Whitaker. Please watch at your own discretion.
Police Chief Paul Neudigate spoke after showing the videos.
He said the investigation isn't over yet, but the police department wanted to get in front of rumors that he said were taking on a life of their own.
"I think the video that we all saw was very compelling, and it leads me to two takeaways," Neudigate said. "First is, we almost had an officer killed. We almost had an officer executed doing his job, protecting the city of Virginia Beach."
"It's got me feeling a number of ways," he continued."One, I'm very, very happy that our officer is uninjured. I'm angry, I'm saddened, I'm saddened for what seems to have become acceptable across this nation. Acceptable to steal cars, acceptable to illegally possess firearms, acceptable to commit robberies, acceptable to fight the police."
"Ladies and gentlemen, none of those are acceptable," Neudigate said. "I'm confident that this community will equally feel the same."
Neudigate said Ortiz-Whitaker was arrested and charged with possession of stolen property, carrying a concealed weapon, possessing a firearm after a domestic violence conviction, brandishing a firearm, assualt on a law enforcement officer and obstruction of justice.
Ortiz-Whitaker spoke to 13News Now reporters from jail this weekend. She said she told the officer she was carrying a gun and never reached for it.
Neudigate said the investigation isn't over, yet. Virginia Beach Commonwealth's Attorney Colin Stolle is reviewing the evidence to see if the officer committed any criminal wrongdoing, and after that, there would be a separate, administrative review to see if he complied with the police department's policies, procedures and training.