Mississippi releases limited camera footage of Hancock deputy killing Georgia pastor’s son

The Mississippi Department of Public Safety released limited body camera footage Tuesday from the Dec. 10, 2022, shooting death of Florida college student Isaiah Winkley.

DPS released the camera footage from the admitted shooter, former Hancock County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Chase Blackwell, along with redacted call logs and incident reports on the shooting death of the 21-year-old son of a Georgia pastor and his wife.

The release comes after a state grand jury in Hancock County found insufficient evidence to indict Blackwell of criminal wrongdoing.

However, what happened during the shooting caught the attention of federal authorities, who investigated the case and agreed to forgo criminal charges against Blackwell after entering into a rarely used no-prosecution agreement with the former officer.

In exchange for the no-prosecution agreement, Blackwell agreed to surrender his law enforcement credentials and never again serve in law enforcement or security for the rest of his life.

Footage of the shooting

Blackwell, with his police K-9 and Hancock County Sheriff’s Lt. Christopher Sholar and Deputy Lauralyn Yagar, are the deputies who responded to a report of a burglary in progress and encountered a shirtless Winkley the day of the killing.

Blackwell fired four to five rounds, resulting in Winkley’s death.

In the video footage provided Tuesday, Blackwell is heard saying he’s going to shoot Winkley before the deputy starts firing, but Blackwell cannot be seen in the footage at the time.

A judge who previously viewed all the camera footage described how Winkley slowly started walking toward him with a metal T-post and repeatedly screaming, “Shoot me.” The deputies had already twice stunned Winkley with a Taser before the shooting.

Blackwell said in a statement he provided in a civil case that he was at least 10 feet away from Winkley when the deputy started shooting.

The footage confirms the 21-year-old senior set to graduate from Pensacola Christian College in cybersecurity shortly after his killing did not have a gun at the time of the shooting.

Instead, Winkley had a bottle of Mentos candy in one hand and a metal T-post used for fencing in the other.

In the footage provided, a shirtless Winkley does not appear to raise a hand or gesture in a threatening manner to the deputies, but repeatedly told deputies to shoot him.

In the 7-minute video footage, Blackwell is seen opening the back of his SUV, and getting his police K-9 named Dark out of the back of the vehicle before running a short distance toward the home where the burglary was reported.

“’Hey, show me your hands right now,’” he shouts.

“Drop it. Drop it. Drop it, now. Drop it,’” Blackwell shouts along with other deputies.

After Winkley is repeatedly shot with the Tasers, he manages to get up and holds on to the metal T-post but doesn’t appear to wave it in a threatening manner at deputies. Instead, Winkley appears to be using it to help prop himself back up.

Blackwell yells to the other deputies that he’s going to shoot Winkley. Blackwell starts firing just over two minutes after he arrives at the scene, the reports indicate.

Afterward, one of the deputies starts saying “’shots fired” on his police radio.

Winkley falls to the ground, lying face up and his body not moving.

Yager appears to check Winkley for a pulse. The deputies are not seen making any life-saving attempts to save Winkley after the shooting.

Instead, the deputies handcuff Winkley on the ground, the video shows.

After Blackwell gets the K-9 back in his SUV, he returns to the shooting scene. Sholar, the supervising deputy at the scene, tells Blackwell to go back to his vehicle since he was involved in the shooting.

Sholar tells dispatch, “’Two deployments of Taser ineffective.”

What’s not included in what was released Tuesday was camera footage from Deputy Yagar. Attorney Lance Stevens, who represents the Winkley family in a wrongful death lawsuit over their son’s killing, questions why only Blackwell’s camera footage was released.

“The body camera video from Officer Yagar shows the incident well,” Stevens said, and provides more insight on the events leading up to the shooting.

MDPS officials did not say why that footage was excluded from that which was released Tuesday.

Attorney, judge offer other details

U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola viewed the camera footage in the wrongful death litigation before denying Blackwell his request for qualified immunity in the civil case.

Qualified immunity protects government officials, including law enforcement officers, from civil liability if their actions could reasonably be believed to be legal.

In the video footage from Deputy Yagar, Blackwell is seen shooting Winkley from at least 10 feet away after Winkley slowly started walking toward him with a metal T-post and screaming, “Shoot me,” according to the legal filings.

Blackwell filed a statement in the civil case saying he was at least 10 feet from Winkley when the shooting started.

Blackwell contends that he shot and killed Winkley because of an “immediate” threat to his safety and the safety of the two other deputies.

However, in his ruling in the civil case, Guirola said, “There exist material questions of fact whether Officer Blackwell faced an immediate threat of death or bodily injury at the time he applied deadly force.”

The use of such force, Guirola said, “must be proportional to the threat.”

“If the officer could reasonably use less than deadly force, he must,” the judge wrote after also citing other cases where officers accused of using excessive force could not escape civil liability in a shooting “anytime he claims he saw a gun.”

As a result, the judge said, Blackwell couldn’t escape liability “because he saw a suspect holding a post.”

Judge provides other details

In the civil ruling, the judge noted the camera footage “reveals that both of Winkley’s hands were plainly visible to Blackwell at all times, and Winkley never brandished the contents of either hand in a threatening manner.”

The judge provided the other details about the shooting as outlined below after reviewing the arguments in the civil case along with all of body camera footage of the killing that was submitted under seal by Blackwell.

When the deputies approached Winkley, the judge wrote that Sholar was carrying an assault-style rifle and a Taser.

Blackwell had his K-9 on a leash and had his gun drawn, and Yager had a Taser in her hand, the judge wrote.

Winkley, the judge said, had the 6 1/2 to 7-foot T-post in his right hand and a small item in his left hand — the Mentos candy — which was almost “completely” obscured from the officers’ view.

Winkley shouted, “Shoot me,” and Sholar stunned him with his Taser.

The judge issued his findings in the civil lawsuit Stevens filed in federal court in Gulfport on behalf of Winkley’s parents, the Rev. Dwight Winkley, and his wife, Catherine, of Morehead, Georgia.

Lt. Sholar did not have his body camera activated, the attorney for the Winkley family said in earlier interviews.

An epiphany and sharing scripture

The week before the shooting Isaiah Winkley told his friends and family he had what his attorney called “an epiphany” and felt he’d been called on to share God’s word.

The family’s attorney said that over the days and nights ahead, Winkley did not sleep, spending his time instead sending scripture to classmates and friends.

At some point later, Winkley got in his car and drove to Mississippi. He didn’t tell anyone he was heading there.

Winkley’s Mercedes went off the road and ended up stuck near Highway 603 in front of St. Matthew Catholic Church. From there, Winkley’s attorney said he walked down Highway 603 until he reached the home where he died.

Prior to the shooting, Winkley had never been in trouble with law enforcement officials.

At the time of his death, Stevens said Winkley “believed that God had put a special mission before him, one that he embraced in a most enthusiastic, and ultimately unhealthy, way.”

However, Stevens said Winkley did not do anything to warrant his killing.

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