RICHMOND (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Just two days after former Fairfax County Police Sergeant Wesley Shifflett reported to jail to serve a three-years of a five-year sentence in prison in the fatal shooting of a suspect who allegedly stole sunglasses from the Tyson’s Corner Nordstrom, Governor Youngkin commuted the sentence. Shifflett was convicted by a jury in October of “reckless use of a firearm” in the February 23, 2023 killing of 37-year old DC resident Timothy McCree Johnson. A Fairfax County judge Friday sentenced the 36-year-old after a jury convicted him of the firearms charge but found him not guilty of involuntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to five years with two suspended and five years of probation after getting out. Prior to conviction, he was fired by the Fairfax County Police Department.

The Governor claims the 3-year sentence went beyond sentencing guidelines. The Governor wrote in a Sunday evening statement, “In this case, the court rejected the Senior Probation and Parole Officer’s recommendation of no incarceration nor supervised probation and instead imposed a sentence of five years’ incarceration with two suspended and an additional five years of probation. Sgt. Shifflett has no prior criminal record, and was, by all accounts, an exemplary police officer. It is in the interest of justice that he be released immediately.”

While his jail term is commuted, the conviction still stands which Shifflett’s attorney says they are appealing.
Click here for Fairfax County Police body cam footage and more information about that night.