Two days after a man suspected of shoplifting from Tysons Corner Center was shot and killed by an officer, the Fairfax County Police Department said Friday there is no evidence the man was armed.
Fairfax County police told WTOP on Friday that after searching the ground around the mall, where two officers chased 37-year-old Timothy McCree Johnson Wednesday evening, investigators did not recover any weapons.
Police officials, including Chief Kevin Davis, have not described the circumstances leading up to the officers firing their weapons. Johnson was struck once in the chest.
Body camera footage of the incident is expected to be released within 30 days.
Both officers, assigned to the Tysons Urban Team, have been placed on restricted duty status while the department continues investigating.
Police have said Johnson was suspected of stealing a pair of designer sunglasses from the Nordstrom department store at the mall.
According to a police account of the shooting detailed in a news release Thursday, an officer saw Johnson exiting store, which set off an anti-theft alarm. Officers chased Johnson through a parking garage and into the woods and gave him commands to get on the ground.
Speaking to reporters the night of the shooting, Davis said he didn’t know if Johnson was armed and said investigators needed daylight to search the area.
