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

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

DPS last week 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.

Since then, the Sun Herald requested and reviewed an additional 23 minutes of body camera footage from Deputy

Lauralyn Yager, who responded to the call along with Blackwell and Sheriff’s Lt. Christopher Sholar.

Sholar did not have his body camera activated.

The footage from the two deputies comes after a state grand jury in Hancock County found insufficient evidence to indict Blackwell of criminal wrongdoing.

Despite the state grand jury ruling, 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 the two other deputies, 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 Blackwell’s camera footage, he tells the other deputies he is going to shoot Winkley before he starts firing.

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

After the shooting, Winkley is seen lying face-up on the ground. Sholar tells deputies that an unconscious Winkley needs to be handcuffed.

Once he’s handcuffed with his head lying face-down in the ground, Sholar removes a sex toy, a bottle of hot sauce, and a pocketknife from Winkley’s back jeans pocket.

Sholar and Yagar then work together to apply a dressing over the gunshot wounds, but the deputies say Winkley isn’t breathing.

The deputies had already radioed in for ambulance service.

More camera footage released

The Sun Herald initially reviewed a 7-minute video from Blackwell. The Sun Herald has now reviewed the additional 23 minutes of footage since provided from Yagar’s body camera.

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 video from Blackwell, he is seen opening the back of his SUV, and getting his police K-9 named Dark out of the back 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 appears to be using the metal T-post to help prop himself back up.

Winkley’s hands are always visible, and he does not appear to use the metal post to threaten deputies during the encounter.

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.

Yagar’s body camera footage shows more about the events as it unfolded before, during, and after the shooting.

Her footage captures Sholar grabbing his assault rifle out of the back of his SUV and captures him and Blackwell, along with his police K-9, crossing over a wire fence after arriving at the scene.. Yagar crosses over the fence next.

Another wire fence and metal gate separate the deputies from Winkley.

The three deputies run to the side of the home, where Winkley is fatally shot.

The Sun Herald reviewed the footage in slow motion as well to see a better view of what Winkley was doing with the metal T-post he was holding at the time of the shooting.

Afterward, Yagar’s footage captures Winkley being handcuffed behind his back.

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,” and then tells Yagar they need to start medical treatment. Yagar radios in to tell dispatch someone needs to interview the man who called deputies out to the burglary in progress.

Sholar puts on plastic gloves and Yagar follows suit. Yager appears to check Winkley for a pulse and then Sholar and Yagar apply a dressing over the gunshot wounds. Ygar says Winkley isn’t breathing.

Winkley died at the scene. An autopsy report showed he had five gunshot wounds.

Attorney, judge offer other details

U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola viewed the camera footage in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by attorney Lance Stevens on behalf on the Winkley family. The lawsuit is filed in federal court in Gulfport.

In a rare move, Guirola denied Blackwell qualified immunity in the wrongful death lawsuit after reviewing all the footage along with exhibits and reports.

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

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 shares other insight

In the civil case, 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 the 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.

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.

In the reports provided by the MDPS, various texts that contained scripture that Winkley had sent out in days leading up to his death are included.

At some point after he started sharing scripture, 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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