Richmond's top prosecutor will not file charges against the police officer who fatally shot 31-year-old Jazmin Wooten-Mitchell at the Belt Atlantic Apartments in May, ruling that video evidence showed she had already fired her gun multiple times and pointed it at the officer before he opened fire. The decision closes the criminal question in a case that began with a mental health crisis and ended with a mother of two dead on a South Richmond breezeway.
Prosecutor Cites Video Evidence in Self-Defense Ruling
Commonwealth's Attorney Collette McEachin ruled that the officer shot Wooten-Mitchell in self-defense, saying the woman left him no other choice, according to WWBT. Bodycam and surveillance footage confirmed that Wooten-Mitchell had fired her gun repeatedly before officers ever arrived, and McEachin said the video showed her pointing the weapon directly at the responding officer. The decision focused on whether the shooting was justified as self-defense; additional coverage is available from Courthouse News Service.
The confrontation began the evening of May 7, when emergency dispatch received a call reporting that Wooten-Mitchell might have shot herself, followed almost immediately by a second 911 call describing a woman actively firing a gun on the building's exterior breezeway, according to WRIC 8News. Officers later advanced up the stairwell and confronted her after hearing gunshots, WTVR CBS 6 reported.
A Mental Health Crisis Hours in the Making
Wooten-Mitchell was grieving after 35-year-old Larry Johnson was killed in a vehicle crash on Warwick Road. In a social-media post before police arrived, she wrote, “I love y'all I'm checking out.”
The circumstances have prompted broader questions about how police handle emergency calls involving armed people in mental health crises.
Richmond Police Released Body-Camera Footage
Richmond police released body-camera footage in the weeks after the shooting. The involved officer was placed on standard paid administrative leave following the shooting.
Two Children Left Without Either Parent
Wooten-Mitchell was a mother of two, and she died in May.
The Belt Atlantic Apartments complex on Midlothian Turnpike was the site of the May shooting, according to WTVR CBS 6. The prosecutor's decision closes the legal chapter on the officer's actions, but for Wooten-Mitchell's family and friends, the questions about what happened on the breezeway are far from settled.
