Documents: Officer told woman to drop scissors before firing

Documents stemming from an investigation into the shooting death of a Native American woman by an Arizona police officer describe a chaotic scene in which witnesses say the officer repeatedly tells the woman to drop the scissors in her hand and stop resisting before he opens fire.

Officer Austin Shipley was nearly three hours into his shift on March 27, and operating on about four hours of sleep after working the night before when he responded to a report of shoplifting at a Circle K, according to newly released documents. He approached the suspect, 27-year-old Loreal Tsingine, on a sidewalk near the convenience store in Winslow and at some point began “fighting and struggling” with her before taking her to the ground, said Sgt. Ernest Cano, another officer who arrived on the scene after Shipley.

Police video shows Tsingine getting up and approaching Shipley with scissors, pointed downward, before she is shot. In one witness account, a woman who lived nearby said Tsingine charged Shipley like “a linebacker,” despite her petite frame.

Autopsy results released Wednesday with the Arizona Department of Public Safety’s full investigative report showed Tsingine stood just 5 feet tall and weighed 100 pounds.

Shipley didn’t use a stun gun because he felt Tsingine was too close to him to use it and it was not the right level of force for the situation, he said.

“I did have a fear and threat that there was serious physical injury or possibly even death if she was able to get close enough to me or Sergeant Cano, so that I did not feel like that any type of less lethal force was able to be used at that point,” Shipley said.

The shooting has prompted protests in recent months by Native American activists who have questioned Shipley’s use of force in the encounter. The case has also led the U.S. Justice Department to open a review of the state’s investigation amid complaints from tribal officials over the treatment of Native Americans in towns, like Winslow, that border their reservation.

The outcry over the small-town shooting comes as activists in major U.S. cities protest fatal police shootings of black men.

Earlier this month, a county attorney cleared Shipley in the shooting, saying a review of the documents determined he felt his life and that of Cano’s were threatened. A Mesa Police Department internal affairs investigation is pending as he remains on paid administrative leave.

Documents previously released by 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 relatives have filed a $10.5 million notice of claim against the city, saying Shipley violated Tsingine’s civil rights and that Winslow was negligent in “hiring, training, retaining, controlling and supervising” Shipley.

The wrongful-death claim filed this month is a precursor to a lawsuit and seeks $2 million for Tsingine’s husband and $8.5 million for her 8-year-old daughter.

Records show Tsingine had a lengthy arrest history, including an incident last year when she allegedly tried to grab an officer’s gun as he tried to arrest her.

On the day she was killed, she had been to the Circle K store several times, starting with a beer run, store manager Donna Wilcox told authorities. During her last visit, she tried to take several packs of cigarettes, which Wilcox said she grabbed from her. But she still walked out of the store with a hot dog, prompting the manager to call police.

Ryanle Benally, who was at the cash register when Tsingine walked out with the hot dog, followed her out of the store as a police vehicle approached, saying he wanted another person who was with him and whose name is redacted in investigative documents to see what happens “when you steal.”

After Shipley got out of his vehicle, Benally said he saw him grab Tsingine by the wrist, maneuver her to the ground and yell “stop resisting, stop resisting.” The officer backed away from Tsingine as she approached him, and then he fired five times, Benally said.

The autopsy for Tsingine shows she was shot twice on the right side of her chest, and twice in the back. One bullet grazed her hand.

There appeared to be alcohol in her system but no drugs. A pill bottle with anti-psychotic medication was found at the scene of the shooting.