A deadline to release footage of a fatal Columbia Pike police shooting came and went on Friday, prompting criticisms at this weekend’s County Board meeting.
County Manager Mark Schwartz said on Saturday that he anticipates body-worn camera footage from the May incident will be released to the public by later this week. That did not satisfy a number of County Board members and others, who had expected footage in advance of the meeting.
Across the region and in other parts of the country, “body-worn footage can be released in 24, 48, 72 hours,” Board member Julius “JD” Spain, Sr., said.
“It’s been five months. We have not delivered,” Spain said. “We, collectively, have failed. That’s the bottom line.”
Shawn Valn, 33, was shot and killed by police during a May 8 incident at a 7-Eleven store at 3602 Columbia Pike. According to police, Valn brandished a knife during a standoff with officers.
The Northern Virginia Critical Incident Response Team, a regional task force, assumed responsibility for the investigation. The commonwealth’s attorney’s office is also seeking a special grand jury to investigate the incident.
County Board members on Sept. 25 set a deadline for the video to be released by Friday, Oct. 16, and if it was not made public by then, for an explanation from the county manager at their meeting the following day.
At the Oct. 17 meeting, Schwartz said work on getting the body-worn footage released is “nearly complete.” He said Penn will meet with members of the media upon its release, although no specific day was given.
The delay “creates the appearance of a coverup,” said Pamela Pinnock, who raised the issue during the Board’s public-comment period.
Pinnock said that while authority for release of the video rests with Schwartz and Police Chief Andy Penn, it is Board members who bear the ultimate responsibility for the delay.
“The county manager is not elected. He reports to you,” Pinnock told Board members. “You all are the ones who are elected and you all are the ones I am holding accountable.”
A number of County Board members expressed growing frustration with delays.
While Board member Susan Cunningham largely agreed with Spain, she said the Board’s initial error was not developing a policy on the release of footage when it mandated that police use body-worn cameras in 2020.
“That was a failure,” she said.
Cunningham added that while the Board on Sept. 25 gave explicit direction on release of body-worn footage from the incident, Schwartz and Penn had known since “right around July 4” that Board members planned to direct its release.
