Shooting of Daniel Shaver

Philip Mitchell "Mitch" Brailsford was 26 years old at the time of the shooting. He had been employed with the Mesa Police Department since 2013. Brailsford's father was a police sergeant who had also worked for the Mesa Police Department.[6] He graduated from Mesa Desert Ridge High School in 2009, was an LDS missionary in Ecuador,[7] and had signed up with the Arizona National Guard before being hired by Mesa Police. He is married and has a son.[8]

Daniel Leetin Shaver, 26, grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, and graduated from Hillwood High School in 2007. He had lived in Granbury, Texas, with his wife and two daughters. Shaver was employed as a pest control specialist, and was in Mesa for a business trip.[9]

In early March 2016, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office announced it would pursue second-degree murder charges against Brailsford in relation to the incident. According to a statement by the county attorney, "after carefully reviewing the relevant facts and circumstances, we have determined that the use of deadly physical force was not justified in this instance."[27] Brailsford pleaded not guilty.[17]

Later that month, the Mesa Police Department fired Brailsford, citing several policy violations and unsatisfactory performance.[28] An internal investigation report revealed that Brailsford had violated department weapon policy by engraving his patrol rifle with the phrases "You're fucked" and "Molon labe" (a Greek expression meaning "come and take them").[29][30] Brailsford had also previously been investigated for body slamming a teenager during an arrest.[31]

In the official police report of the incident, Brailsford defended his actions, saying that Shaver crawling towards the officers was Shaver "trying to gain a position of advantage in order to gain a better firing position on us". Shaver had indeed crawled towards the officers after one of them instructed him to. The report stated: "Shaver was co-operative, but sometimes confused by the commands and because of his possible intoxication".[32]

Four months after the shooting, Charles Langley, the officer who gave orders to Shaver, retired from the department. By December 2017, Langley had emigrated to the Philippines.[33][34]

Brailsford's trial for second-degree murder was originally scheduled for February 2017. A defense motion challenging the state's probable cause to send the case to trial; appeals to the Arizona Supreme Court over the release of controversially redacted footage from Brailsford's body camera made a February trial unrealistic. On February 10, 2017, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge George Foster rescheduled the trial for October 23, 2017. Brailsford faced up to 25 years in prison if found guilty of second-degree murder.

On December 7, 2017, after a six-week trial, a jury acquitted Brailsford of all charges.[11][13]

Also in December 2017, it was revealed that Brailsford had been involved in a prior incident in 2015 regarding an arrest of teenagers in a store. During the arrest, Brailsford was recorded on video throwing a teenager against a shelf, putting the teenager in a headlock, then slamming the teenager onto the ground. At the time, the incident was publicized (but Brailsford was not named) by a witness to the arrest, who alleged excessive force because the teenagers "weren't doing anything". A spokesman for the Mesa Police Department said that the department "looked at" the incident and "administratively cleared" Brailsford, because "police work sometimes isn't pretty".[35][36]

In January 2018, Brailsford filed for bankruptcy.[4] In early 2018, the United States Department of Justice opened its own investigation into Shaver's killing.[3]

In August 2018, Brailsford was reinstated by the Mesa Police Department, staying for a further 42 days in what the department described as a "budget position". The department agreed to reimburse Brailsford for medical expenses related to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Brailsford's lawyer has said that Brailsford suffered PTSD due to his shooting of Shaver and the resultant criminal trial. The reinstatement allowed Brailsford to apply for "accidental disability" suffered during the course of work. As a result, Brailsford was unanimously approved to be retired on medical grounds. Brailsford was also given a pension of $2,500 per month. The fact that Brailsford was ultimately medically retired instead of remaining fired was only revealed to the public in July 2019.[4][5][37] According to a pay stub attached to Brailsford's bankruptcy file, he has been working for a steel company in Glendale, Arizona.[38]