ARLINGTON, Wash. — The family of a 17-year-old girl shot by Arlington police in February is now speaking out and disputing the police's version of events.
“What happened to my sister on Feb. 14 of this year is a challenge no child should have to endure,” Ayana Robinson said. “This child was unnecessarily injured and almost killed by officers sworn to protect her.”
Robinson declined to give her younger sister's name but shared some details. She said her sister is a budding academic, part of the Running Start Program at Everett Community College where she studies cultural linguistic anthropology and strives for a career in international law.
She shared a picture of her sister as well. It shows the two of them just hours before the shooting. She said she chose that particular picture because it highlights who her sister is.
“What really strikes you about this particular young woman is her kindness, her warmth and grace,” Robinson added.
But Robinson says her sister's young life was drastically altered shortly after when she was shot by Arlington police.
A search warrant obtained by the Everett Herald offered new details into the shooting. According to the newspaper, officers said the girl was suicidal, had already assaulted her boyfriend and refused to comply with orders. While in her car, they say she started tapping the blade of a knife on the driver's side window -- and holding the blade up to her throat. The officer had to break out the passenger window, when she lunged with a knife and crawled through the broken window. He shot her with a stun gun, but it didn't work. and officers opened fire -- hitting the teen.
She survived.
Robinson condemned the police account.
“Constitutes nothing less than the deliberate character assassination intended to diminish public opinion of my sister's character and to paint her as a character deserving of lethal force,” Robinson said.
Robinson offered another version of events. She said her sister was upset that day, having just broken up with her boyfriend. She met up with a friend when she had an anxiety attack coupled with some health issues she’d been experiencing.
“She was ill and sad, not a threat to anyone,” Robinson countered.
She said her sister went to her car to work through her anxiety attack.
“She noticed that her now ex-boyfriend's pocket knife was lying closed on the seat beside her,” Robinson explained. “She decided to put it away in case police were concerned she had a weapon.”
She then said an officer broke the passenger window, pulled her sister out and commanded her to drop the knife. Robinson says her sister wasn't holding the knife when she was shot.
“She screamed she had. She had dropped knife but they attacked anyway,” Robinson said.
She said her sister was shot multiple times in the chest and abdomen. She was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center where she spent two weeks in the intensive care unit.
Though her sister still has a long road ahead of her, Robinson said justice will go a long way in helping with her recovery.
“We're hopeful the truth is made clear,” Robinson said.
Right now, the Snohomish Multi-Agency Response Team, SMART, is investigating the shooting. SMART is made up of detectives from various police departments.
The family, along with the NAACP, reiterated their call for an independent, civilian review.
The officers involved in the shooting are back at work.
Cox Media Group
