A police officer was in custody on Thursday evening after being indicted with first-degree murder for the fatal shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old in Virginia earlier this year.



The grand jury in the city of Portsmouth charged officer Stephen Rankin with murder and the illegal use of a firearm for fatally shooting William Chapman, according to court filings. Portsmouth’s police chief later said Rankin had also been fired from his job.

“After a methodical deliberation of a thorough investigation by the Virginia state police, the commonwealth’s attorney determined that William Chapman was murdered by a police officer,” said Jon Michael Babineau, an attorney for Chapman’s family. “Today, the citizens of Portsmouth agreed.”

Chapman’s mother, Sallie, described the news as “wonderful” in a brief message to the Guardian. “I am so thankful,” she said. “Justice. Justice. Justice.”

Rankin shot Chapman in the head and chest outside a Walmart superstore on the morning of 22 April. The pair had engaged in a physical struggle after Rankin tried to arrest the 18-year-old on suspicion of shoplifting, according to police. Authorities have declined to say whether Chapman was found to have stolen anything.

Witnesses said Chapman broke free and then stepped back towards the officer aggressively before being shot twice. The 18-year-old was the second unarmed man shot dead by Rankin in Portsmouth. An autopsy indicated Chapman was not shot at close range.



Detective Misty Holley, a spokeswoman for Portsmouth police department, said on Thursday evening that Rankin had turned himself in and was in custody. Nicole Belote, an attorney for the officer, said in an email following the grand jury’s decision that he denied wrongdoing.

“While I am quite surprised that a charge of first degree murder was presented to the grand jury and returned as a true bill because the facts do not support such a charge, it does not change our defence,” said Belote. “We will continue to prepare for trial and zealously defend Officer Rankin.”

Interim police chief Dennis Mook said in a statement that Rankin’s “employment is being terminated” and that the police department would carry out an internal inquiry into the shooting.

Commonwealth’s attorney Stephanie Morales, the state prosecutor overseeing the case, said she would not be releasing any of the evidence against Rankin and that he would be tried “not in the court of the public opinion or through the media” but in the Virginia courts. “I submit to you that it is paramount for everyone to respect the judicial process,” she said at a press conference.

Earl Lewis, a cousin of Chapman who has acted as a family spokesman, said following the grand jury’s decision: “Justice has been served, and it has been shown that black lives matter in Portsmouth, Virginia.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The mother of William Chapman spoke to the Guardian in June about her loss: ‘I sat here and waited for my baby to come home. But he never came home’ – link to video

The shooting was investigated by the Virginia state police, which passed its findings to Morales earlier this month. The prosecutor also commissioned her own investigative work and tests by the state department of forensic science.



In his statement Mook offered his condolences to Chapman’s family and urged people to allow the prosecution to take its course. “I am confident that the Grand Jury impartially weighed all the evidence presented before rendering their final decision,” he said.



Rankin, 36, is a veteran of the US navy. In 2011, he fatally shot Kirill Denyakin, a Kazakh cook, while responding to a 911 call about Denyakin aggressively banging at the door of a building where he was staying. A grand jury declined to indict the officer.

Lewis, a former police officer, said: “We would also like to give our condolences to the Denyakin family. If he had stopped then, William would still be alive today. We lost a very valuable young man in our family.”