Ex-Arizona police officer acquitted in fatal hotel shooting
PHOENIX — A former Arizona police officer was acquitted Thursday of a murder charge in the 2016 fatal shooting of an unarmed man outside his hotel room as officers were responding to a call that someone there was pointing a gun out a window.
The verdict cleared Philip Mitchell Brailsford, 27, of criminal liability in the 2016 death of Daniel Shaver of Granbury, Texas.
The shooting occurred in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa after officers ordered Shaver to exit his hotel room, lay face-down in a hallway and refrain from making sudden movements — or he risked being shot.
Shaver, 26, sobbed as he begged police not to shoot and was ordered to crawl toward officers. As he inched forward, he reached toward the waistband of his shorts. Brailsford said he fired his rifle because he believed Shaver was grabbing a handgun in his waistband.