On December 7, 2017, former police officer Philip Brailsford was found not guilty of second-degree murder by an Arizona jury in regards to the 2016 shooting of Daniel Shaver (26 years old), from Granbury, Texas.

A jury of eight deliberated for less than six hours over two days, finding Brailsford not guilty for either charge of second-degree murder, nor reckless manslaughter.

Philip Brailsford was one of six officers responding to a call of a man pointing a gun out of a fifth-floor window at a La Quinta hotel in Mesa, AZ. The officers confronted Shaver and began their attempt to question him.

During the confrontation with police, Shaver was kneeling, crying and begging not to be shot in the hallway of his hotel on Jan 18, 2016. Brailsford testified that he fired his AR-15 five times because it looked as if Shaver was reaching for a gun. Brailsford was fired from the force two months after the shooting.

Jurors were shown a video of the incident, that has now been released to the public. The judge did not allow the jurors to know that Brailsford gun was engraved with the words “You’re f*cked”, as he felt it was prejudicial. The video shows Shaver kneeling on the ground as Brailsford is giving several commands. At one point, Shaver is on his knees with his hands behind his back. He was then told to keep his hands in the air. He was warned that if he put his hands back down, he would be shot. Shaver began to cry, “Please don’t shoot me”. He began to crawl, as instructed, but lowered his right hand towards his waistband, prompting Brailsford to fire five times, fatally shooting Daniel Shaver. Shaver was found to be un-armed, but police later found a pellet gun in his hotel room, which was used for his job in pest-control. Police later learned that Shaver had been showing the gun to Monique Portillo and Luis Nunez, also guests at the hotel that he had met earlier that night.

Here is a link to the GRAPHIC body cam footage. Viewer discretion is advised:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBUUx0jUKxc

No matter what your opinion is on the verdict, we can all agree that this is a tragic incident that has lead to the needless loss of Daniel Shaver’s life. As a community, I ask that the people of Hood County keep his wife and two daughters in your thoughts and prayers.