Lamont Finlayson known as his daughter, Niani Finlayson, on Dec. 1 final yr. Finlayson, a 27-year-old Black girl, was residing in her first house in Lancaster, California. It was the primary time she was capable of host relations for the vacations.
They talked about Christmas items, Lamont instructed HuffPost this week, and about his plans to get her a automobile. Three days later, all these plans had been minimize brief.
Niani Finlayson known as the authorities on Dec. 4 throughout a home incident, saying her boyfriend wouldn’t depart her dwelling. In audio later launched by the sheriff’s division from the 911 name, Finlayson may be heard shouting for assist.
“He won’t get out of my house, he will not leave me alone, I need the police here right now,” she stated.
Finlayson was screaming on the decision and repeatedly telling a person to get off her. Bradley Gage, the household’s lawyer, has recognized the person as her former boyfriend.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department responded to the decision, arriving on the Lancaster house advanced, some 44 miles exterior of Los Angeles. In physique digital camera footage launched by the division final week, Finlayson may be seen holding an object that authorities described as a kitchen knife. Finlayson’s 9-year-old daughter seems to inform officers that the person on the dwelling had been pushing her.
Finlayson grabbed the person whereas holding the knife. She instructed police she was going to “stab him” as a result of he’d harmed her daughter that night.
Deputy Ty Shelton fired 4 pictures inside seconds of arriving inside, killing Finlayson in entrance of her daughter.
The sheriff’s division didn’t reply to requests for remark. In an announcement final month, the division referred to a “robust review” course of that may decide whether or not Shelton violated division insurance policies.
Finlayson’s boyfriend was arrested for little one abuse and assault on a police officer, however was later launched, the division stated in an announcement.
Lamont Finlayson instructed HuffPost he believes the taking pictures was not justified. He now has to take care of his two granddaughters.
“It is very hard to do, because how do you explain to children that their mom is not coming back?” he instructed HuffPost.
Finlayson’s household and attorneys need to know why officers on the scene didn’t deescalate the scenario. Video exhibits Shelton getting into the house holding each a stun gun and a firearm.
Lamont Finlayson stated he wished his daughter to stay along with her two kids in Lancaster to keep away from unstable encounters with police.
He instructed HuffPost that Niani aspired to be a nurse, and that she liked her two daughters and her household.
“I thought she would be at peace,” Lamont instructed HuffPost. “She wanted to live life to the fullest and see me get old. But instead, now I can’t see her get old.”
Gage, a civil rights lawyer, filed a declare signaling a $30 million lawsuit in state courtroom, however says the county might transfer the lawsuit to the federal degree, alleging wrongful demise. Gage can also be demanding the district lawyer file homicide prices in opposition to Shelton.
“When you bring a case like this, a common theme applies: We want to see justice,” Gage instructed HuffPost. “So often you hear law enforcement talking about some suspect or criminal, and they forget these are human beings with families of their own.”
Nearly 4 years in the past, Shelton killed Michael Thomas, a Black man, additionally whereas responding to a 911 name on home violence. Thomas and his girlfriend received right into a verbal disagreement and Thomas was trying to cease officers from getting into the home, in keeping with police. Shelton shot Thomas within the chest when he arrived.
No prison prices had been filed in opposition to Shelton within the encounter, which occurred simply weeks after George Floyd’s homicide in Minneapolis. No footage of the taking pictures exists.
