Former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin pardoned ex-Sgt. Wesley Gonzalez Shifflett on Jan. 15 in the fatal 2023 shooting of an unarmed man accused of stealing sunglasses at a mall. The pardon, issued days before Youngkin’s term ended, comes amid a nationwide debate over legal protections for law enforcement and when use of deadly force is justified.
The pardon is the second executive intervention in the case—Youngkin had previously granted clemency, voiding Shifflett’s three-year prison sentence. The sequence raises questions about the appropriate scope of executive clemency and how police use-of-force cases are adjudicated.
The Shooting and Conviction
On Feb. 22, 2023, Shifflett shot Timothy McCree Johnson in a densely wooded area near a Northern Virginia mall. Johnson was unarmed and had been accused of stealing sunglasses from the mall. Shifflett chased Johnson out of the mall’s parking deck and into the wooded area before the fatal encounter.
Shifflett was convicted in 2024 of reckless firearm use in Johnson’s death. He was acquitted of a manslaughter charge. During his trial, body camera video was played showing the sequence of events. According to the video, Shifflett yelled “Get on the ground,” and then fired two shots at Johnson two seconds later. After the shots were fired, Shifflett shouted, “Stop reaching,” and told other officers he thought he saw Johnson putting his hand in his waistband.
Johnson could be heard in the body camera video saying, “I’m not reaching for nothing. I don’t have nothing.”
During trial, Shifflett testified that his “motor functions were operating more quickly than I could verbalize.”
Clemency, Then Pardon
This is the second executive intervention in the case by Youngkin. Less than a year before issuing the pardon, Youngkin granted Shifflett clemency, throwing out his three-year prison sentence. Shifflett received the absolute pardon on Jan. 15, days before Youngkin’s term ended.
Youngkin based his pardon on a report released by Fairfax County police in April 2025. In his pardon order, Youngkin wrote: “The deadly force used by Sgt. Wesley Gonzalez Shifflett on February 22, 2023, was both lawful and consistent with the department’s policy and training.”
According to the department’s report, Shifflett’s actions were objectively reasonable because he believed Johnson posed “a significant threat of death or serious injury” when he used deadly force.
The Victim’s Family Objects
Timothy Johnson’s mother, Melissa Johnson, had objected to Youngkin’s clemency decision when it was announced last year. “Why now do we find it necessary to vacate or not consider the jury’s verdict, and to think that this honorable and fair judge did not sentence within the guidelines that he was afforded to?” she asked at the time.
The Debate Over Police Accountability
The pardon comes amid the country’s ongoing debate over how much legal protection law enforcement should receive when officers use deadly force. Police departments nationwide have faced scrutiny over use-of-force policies following high-profile shootings, with questions about when force is justified and how departments and courts should evaluate officers’ split-second decisions.
The case illustrates the tension between judicial accountability — established through jury verdict and judicial sentencing — and executive clemency power, which allows governors to overturn criminal convictions and sentences based on their own assessment of fairness and justice.