Widow of Unarmed Man Shot to Death by Police Officer Last Year Speaks Out

The wife of an unarmed man who was killed by a police officer is speaking out nearly two years after her husband’s death.

Laney Sweet’s husband, Daniel Shaver, was killed by former Arizona officer Philip Brailsford in January 2016 after officers responded to a call that someone there was pointing a gun out a window, KPHO-TV reports. Shaver, who was unarmed, was shot outside his hotel room after officers ordered him to crawl toward them on the ground. Shaver reached toward the waistband of his shorts and Brailsford shot him, believing he was reaching for a gun.

Speaking to CBS News, Sweet referred to her husband’s death as an “execution.”

“I’ve been fighting for two years and screaming,” she said. “Finally, now, it took people watching my husband die a very horrible inhumane death for people to care.”

Last week, Brailsford was found not guilty, and video of the incident was released last Thursday. After Shaver’s death, Brailsford was fired for violating police procedures.

“I just don’t understand how anybody could watch that video and then say, ‘not guilty,’ that this is justified that Daniel deserved this, and that Philip Brailsford doesn’t deserve to be held accountable for his actions,” Sweet said.

Shaver and Sweet share two daughters, and Sweet said that her 8-year-old tried to harm herself at school on Monday.

“She tried choking herself while she was at school, and told her friend that she wanted to die, so I spent all last evening with her in the hospital getting her psychiatric help,” Sweet said.

When asked what her daughter said when she saw her mom, Sweet replied, “She told me that she wanted to be with her dad.”

Sweet says important information was not included in Brailsford’s trial, and she has filed a wrongful death civil suit and is calling the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate.

Photo Credit: CBS News