Authorities have released the unedited video of an Arizona police officer fatally shooting an unarmed man outside his hotel room as officers responded to a call that someone there was pointing a gun out a window.
The 18-minute body-camera video was released shortly after former Officer Philip Mitchell Brailsford was acquitted Thursday on a murder charge in the January 2016 shooting death of Daniel Shaver of Granbury, Texas.
Screenshot of bodycam video released by Mesa Police shows Daniel Shaver holding his arms in the air. (Photo via Mesa Police Department)
The release of the full video marks the first time the face-to-face encounter between officers and Shaver has been available to the public outside a courtroom. It was played at the beginning of Brailsford's trial in late October.
The footage, taken from Brailsford's point of view, shows the shooting and the tense moments leading up to it.
Officers ordered Shaver to lie down face-first in the hallway and not make any sudden movements or risk being shot.
At one point, Shaver puts his hands behind his back.
"Hands up in the air!" yelled Sgt. Charles Langley, who was leading the police team that responded to the call. "You do that again, we're shooting you."
"Please do not shoot me," Shaver said, sobbing.
In this Oct. 25, 2017 file photo, Former Mesa police officer Philip Brailsford, left, and his attorney, Mike Piccarreta, stand for the jury, at the start of Brailsford's murder trial at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix . Brailsford was acquitted Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017 of a murder charge in the 2016 fatal shooting of Daniel Shaver, an unarmed man outside his hotel room as officers were responding to a call that someone there was pointing a gun out a window. (David Wallace/The Arizona Republic via AP, File)
He was ordered to crawl toward officers. As he inched forward, he reached toward the waistband of his shorts, leading Brailsford to open fire. He said he believed Shaver was grabbing a handgun to fatally shoot him.
Authorities have said it looked as though Shaver was pulling up his loose-fitting basketball shorts that had fallen down as he crawled.
No gun was found on Shaver's body, but two pellet rifles related to his pest-control job were later found in his hotel room.
While the acquittal clears Brailsford of criminal liability, Shaver's widow, Laney Sweet, and Shaver's parents have filed wrongful-death lawsuits against the suburban Phoenix city of Mesa.
Brailsford served as a Mesa officer for about two years before he was fired for violating department policy.
Former Officer Philip Michell Brailsford (left) and Daniel Shaver (Photo via KPHO/KTVK)
Portions of the video had been released in May 2016 after The Associated Press and other news organizations requested that it be unsealed. The previously released footage showed officers taking cover in a hotel hallway as they waited for Shaver and a woman to exit his room and ended just before they walked out.
NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) — The trial of a southern Arizona rancher charged with fatally shooting an unarmed migrant on his property near the U.S.-Mexico border went to the jury Thursday.
Jurors did not immediately reach a verdict and will resume deliberations Friday morning.
In closing arguments earlier Thursday, lawyers debated the actions of 75-year-old George Alan Kelly, who is accused of second-degree murder in the January 30, 2023, shooting of Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea.
Cuen-Buitimea, 48, lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico. Court records show Cuen-Buitimea had previously entered the U.S. illegally several times and was deported, most recently in 2016
The case has attracted national attention as border security continues to be a top issue this election year and garnered sympathy for the rancher from some on the political right.
Cuen-Buitimea was in a group of men that Kelly encountered on his property. Prosecutor Mike Jette said Kelly recklessly fired an AK-47 rifle toward the group that was about 100 yards (90 meters) away.
Kelly said he fired warning shots in the air, but he didn’t shoot directly at anyone, explaining that he feared for his safety and that of his wife and property.
“He says he shot 100 yards over their heads. But he never told law enforcement that he was in fear of his life," Jette said in closing arguments.
Kelly fired nine shots toward the group, according to Jette, who said Cuen-Buitimea suffered three broken ribs and a severed aorta.
Jette encouraged jurors to find Kelly guilty of reckless manslaughter or negligent homicide if they can’t convict him on the murder charge.
Defense attorney Brenna Larkin, in her closing argument, said Kelly “was in a life or death situation” that was “a terrifying scenario” for him.
“He was confronted with a threat right outside his home,” Larkin said. “He would have been absolutely justified to use deadly force, but he did not."
She urged jurors to return a “not guilty” verdict, saying the state didn't prove its case.
The other migrants on Kelly's ranch in 2023 weren’t injured and managed to escape back to Mexico.
Larkin has characterized groups of migrants crossing through Kelly’s property as an increasing concern over the years, prompting him to arm himself for protection.
The trial that started March 22 included jurors visiting Kelly’s nearly 170-acre (69-hectare) cattle ranch in Nogales, Arizona.
Earlier in proceedings, Kelly rejected an agreement with prosecutors that would have reduced the charge to one count of negligent homicide if he pleaded guilty.
Kelly was also charged with aggravated assault against another person in the group of about eight people, including a man from Honduras who was living in Mexico and who testified during the trial that he was seeking work in the U.S. that day.
This story has been corrected to show that Kelly fired nine shots toward a group that included Cuen-Buitimea, according to the prosecution, not that Cuen-Buitimea was shot nine times.
County Attorney Michael Jette addresses jurors during closing arguments in Santa Cruz County Superior Court, Thursday, April 18, 2024 in Nogales, Ariz. Rancher George Alan Kelly accused of second-degree murder in the January 2023 death of 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, who lived south of the border in Nogales, Mexico. (Angela Gervasi/Nogales International, via AP, Pool)
George Alan Kelly listens to closing arguments in Santa Cruz County Superior Court, Thursday, April 18, 2024 in Nogales, Ariz. Kelly was charged with second-degree murder in the January 2023 death of 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, who lived south of the border in Nogales, Mexico. (Angela Gervasi/Nogales International, via AP, Pool)
FILE - George Alan Kelly enters court for his preliminary hearing in Nogales Justice Court in Nogales, Ariz., Feb. 22, 2023. Jurors on the case of Arizona rancher Kelly charged with fatally shooting a migrant on his property will be allowed to visit the property near the border with Mexico as early as this week as the trial enters its second half. (Mark Henle/The Arizona Republic via AP, Pool, File)
FILE - George Alan Kelly exits the Santa Cruz County Courthouse with defense attorney Kathy Lowthorp after the first day of his trial in Santa Cruz County Superior Court Friday, March 22, 2024 in Nogales, Ariz. Jurors in the case of the Arizona rancher Kelly charged with fatally shooting a migrant on his property visited the scene of the killing as the third week of the trial wrapped up. The jurors on Thursday, April 11, 2024, viewed various locations at Kelly's ranch, as well as a section of the U.S.-Mexico border. (Angela Gervasi/Nogales International, via AP, File)