A 27-year-old Black woman called 911 for help during an alleged domestic violence incident involving a man authorities described as her boyfriend. When deputies arrived, they found the mother of two armed with a knife, and they fatally shot her.
On 4 December, Niani Finlayson reported that her “boyfriend would not leave her alone and then screaming and sounds of a struggle could be heard”, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) said in a statement.
In the body camera footage released on Friday, yelling could be heard coming from inside of the apartment in Lancaster as deputies approached and tried to kick the door down.
Finlayson opened the door and appeared in the doorway holding a large kitchen knife in one hand, the footage showed. She then threatened to stab the man with the knife, according to the LASD, and that’s when a deputy followed her inside and opened fire, killing the woman.
Now, her family has filed a $30 million claim against the sheriff’s department alleging wrongful death and civil rights violations.
Here’s everything we know about the case so far:
Body cam footage shows moments leading up to shooting
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department released body camera footage on Friday showing the moments leading up to Niani Finlayson being fatally shot by a deputy.
Finlayson was inside the apartment in Lancaster with her nine-year-old daughter and had been injured allegedly by her former boyfriend when she made the frantic 911 call, according to Bradley Gage, the family’s attorney.
The body cam footage shows three deputies arriving at the apartment on 4 December, and screams could be heard from inside.
One deputy pounds on the door and then attempts to kick in the door when no one answers.
‘I’m going to stab him’
In the body cam footage, the door opens and Finlayson could be seen in the doorway holding what authorities say was a large kitchen knife.
“The female was armed with a large kitchen knife,” the LASD statement said. “The female made verbal threats indicating she was going to harm the male with the knife. When the female approached the male with the knife, a deputy involved shooting occurred.”
“I’m going to stab him,” she can be heard telling the deputies before moving out of sight.
The footage captured two deputies entering the apartment. One of the deputies, later identified by the department as Ty Shelton, asks the other deputy to give him a Taser.
Finlayson has moved to the living room and is seen standing next to a man with one hand on him and the other holding a knife.
Her nine-year-old daughter could also be seen on camera, yelling and pointing at the man her mother is standing next to.
Mr Shelton drops the Taser and then fires his handgun at Finlayson four times, causing her to fall to the ground.
“No, no,” the alleged ex-boyfriend is heard yelling. “Why did you shoot?”
Deputies administered first aid until paramedics arrived and transported Finlayson to the hospital where she was later pronounced deceased, according to a statement from LASD.
The man, who has not been named, became resistant to police after the shooting and was arrested for child abuse and assault on a peace officer, according to a statement from the sheriff’s department.
He was later released from custody pending further investigation.
Family files claim seeking $30m
On 21 December, the attorney for Finlayson’s family filed a claim against Los Angeles County and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department seeking $30m alleging wrongful death and civil rights violations.
The claim is a precursor to a lawsuit, The Los Angeles Times reports.
At a press conference, Mr Gage said, “Niani had been given a knife to try to protect herself from this man that was accused of attacking her,” the Antelope Valley Press reports.
The family argued that Finlayson was a victim of domestic violence and was not threatening anyone when deputies shot her in the back.
“Niani was sitting on the ground when she was shot in the back,” Mr Gage told reporters at the press conference last week. “She was not engaging in any type of physically threatening behaviour at all. In fact, she was the victim.”
“After the shooting, the [man] told the Deputies there was no reason for them to shoot Niana. The response? Beat up the [man],” the claim alleges.
“While some may believe that the [man] ‘got what he deserved,’ Deputies are not allowed to needlessly kill women and they are not allowed to engage in vigilante justice,” it said. “No one is above the law.”
He explained that the deputy should have been focused on de-escalating the situation and that the use of a Taser or pepper spray could have done so without killing Finlayson.
“They took a situation that was volatile, but not deadly, and they turned it into a deadly situation with these tactics,” Mr Gage told The Los Angeles Times on Saturday.
He added that Finlayson’s death was “inhumane and unjustified” and is calling for Mr Shelton to be charged with murder.
In the claim, Mr Gage also mentioned that “this is allegedly not Deputy Shelton’s first killing. Yet he remains a member of the Sheriff’s Department with no known punishment.”
In 2020, Mr Shelton shot and killed 62-year-old Michael Thomas in Lancaster when he and another deputy tried to detain him during a domestic violence call, according to county records obtained by The Times.
Prosecutors declined to file charges against Mr Shelton in that case, it was reported, though they acknowledged “there may have been other reasonable options available” to him instead of killing Thomas.
LASD has responded to the claim, stating: “The deputy involved in the shooting has been removed from the field pending the outcome of the Department’s critical incident review.”
“The Department will examine and evaluate every aspect of the shooting including the response, tactics, and background of the employee.”
The investigation will include a multi-level review process involving the Office of Inspector General, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner, and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Justice System Integrity Division, according to a statement from LASD.
‘She called for help and cried out in pain’
Tracie Hall, Finlayson’s mother, told ABC News that Finlayson did not die immediately.
“She called for help and cried out in pain,” Ms Hall said “Her 9-year-old witnessed the entire murder and her mother’s suffering.”
Ms Hall said Finlayson’s daughter told her that the ex-boyfriend choked Finlayson and would not get off her.
She said when Finlayson’s daughter tried to help her mother, the man grabbed the child and forcefully threw her against a nearby dresser.
“We’re trying to, as a family, make her [Finlayson’s daughter] not feel guilty for helping her mother,” Ms Hall said. “She was in no wrong. She did nothing wrong. And I want her to know that. I can’t express that enough to her.”
Finlayson’s daughter at a press conference said she handed her mother a knife before the deputies arrived because the man was “hurting my mother and me”. “I didn’t have [any] choice but to get something sharp,” the girl was quoted by Los Angeles Times as saying.
In a GoFundMe created for Finlayson’s children, the organizer wrote that the young mother “called 911 for help and ended up shot dead in her home in front of her … daughter by LASD.”
“It’s so unfair that we have to live our lives without Niani Finlayson,” Ms Hall added. “That was my best friend. I’m going to miss her so much. I miss her already.”
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential.
