Charleena Lyles, a pregnant mother killed by Seattle police in her apartment in front of her children, was shot seven times, including twice in the back, according to an autopsy released on Wednesday.

The medical examiner’s report on Lyles, 30, who was killed after she called 911 to report a burglary, classified the death as a homicide and noted that the bullets cut through her uterus and hit her fetus, estimated to be 14 to 15 weeks old.

Lyles’ death sparked national outrage and reignited debates about law enforcement’s disproportionate killing of African Americans and officers’ treatment of people with mental illness.



The two police officers have claimed that Lyles was holding a knife when they killed her on 18 June, but her family has questioned law enforcement’s narrative and justification for using deadly force, noting that she was 100lb, 5ft 3in and not a threatening person.

Lyles was shot twice in the abdomen, twice in the back and once each in the chest, arm and hip, according to the report.

“Did they shoot her as she fell to the ground? Was she running away?” said Katrina Johnson, Lyles’ cousin, in an interview on Wednesday. “How did she get shot in the back? I still don’t know that and understand that, but any which way, it was excessive force. Seven times for her little pregnant 100lb self was out of control.”

The 14-page King County medical examiner’s office report, released by a family attorney and published by the Seattle Times, raises fresh questions about why the officers, Jason Anderson and Steven McNew, used lethal force and fired a round of bullets at the woman at close range.

The officers had arrived at Lyles’ apartment door less than an hour after Lyles dialed 911 to report a burglary, when she discovered her Xbox was missing. After roughly two minutes and 30 seconds, police fired at her from about five feet away as her one-year-old and four-year-old children crawled nearby, police records revealed. Her 11-year-old son was in another room during the shooting.

It’s unclear how the encounter escalated, with police audio recordings capturing a conversation that was initially polite and cordial. In department interviews, the officers claimed that at some point she had a knife on her and that they feared for their safety. The officers didn’t have Tasers on them, even though one of them was supposed to be carrying one.

The official determination that two of the bullets hit Lyles in the back has further fueled the family’s claims that it was excessive and unjustified when the policemen, who are both white, decided to shoot her.

One of the bullets entered her back near her spine and “extensively” lacerated her lungs, ribs and inferior vena cava, which carries blood to the heart, the report said. She was hit on the right and left sides of her back, and two of the bullets hit her uterus.

“How can someone be shot in the back if they are coming at you with knives?” said André Taylor, a local police reform activist assisting the Lyles family.

The toxicology report also found no drugs or alcohol in Lyles’ system when she was killed, the Seattle Times reported. An investigation into the shooting is continuing. Seattle police declined to comment on the autopsy.

Her father, Charles Lyles, told the paper that it was painful to learn of how her unborn child died in the shooting: “Hearing the details of the shooting just makes me feel more empty. I lost my daughter and my next grandson. I just don’t have the words.”

Lyles’ relatives spoke at length with the Guardian in July about police harassment and mistreatment of black communities, despite Seattle officials’ claims that it is one of the most progressive cities in the country for modern policing. Weeks before her death, Lyles had called police to report a domestic disturbance, and instead of being treated as a victim, she was arrested and jailed.

Taylor, whose brother was killed by police last year, said the details in the autopsy were another illustration of the unjust shootings that have long plagued Seattle and Washington state, where police are never convicted for killings.

“It’s another tragic story has been going on over and over again,” he said. “When it officially comes out, it just stings that much more.”

It has been difficult, Johnson said, to properly mourn Lyles’ death while they continue to fight for justice.

“I don’t think most of us have even begun to grieve,” she said, adding that while she was not surprised by the details of the autopsy, it has resurfaced the family’s suffering. “It rips off the scab all over again, and we’re bleeding.”