OFFICE OF THE

COMMONWEALTH’S ATTORNEY FOR THE CITY OF LYNCHBURG

MONUMENT TERRACE BUILDING
901 CHURCH STREET
LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA 24504
(434) 455-3760
FAX (434) 846-5038
WWW.OCALYNCHBURG.COM

BETHANY A. S. HARRISON DIRECT PHONE NUMBER

(434) 455-3778
Commonwealth’s Attorney E-MAIL ADDRESS
For Immediate Release July 10, 2023 BHARRISON@OCALYNCHBURG.COM

COMMONWEALTH’S ATTORNEY REPORT

Re: Use of Force May 12, 2023, 1512 Longview Rd. Apt. 249 Lynchburg, VA
Involving Ashley Biggs Neeley and Officer Shane Evans

As Commonwealth’s Attorney for the City of Lynchburg, I was tasked with the
determination of whether the use of force by Lynchburg Police Department Officer Shane Evans
on May 12, 2023 amounted to a criminal offense. The purpose of this investigation is not to
determine the appropriateness of any Lynchburg Police Department (LPD) policy, procedure, or
tactic but solely for the purpose of determining if a criminal act was committed during the
encounter with Ashley Biggs Neeley. In making my determination, I reviewed reports provided
by the Virginia State Police who investigated the matter, body worn camera (BWC) footage of the
event, reports prepared by the Department of Social Services, medical records for Ashley Biggs
Neeley, computer aided dispatch (CAD) records, calls to Lynchburg Emergency Communications,
law enforcement training records of Officer S. Evans and Officer G. Boras, and interviews of
involved parties including Officer S. Evans, Officer G. Boras, and citizen statements who were
near the event. Based upon the law and the evidence in this matter, it is my opinion Officer S.
Evans actions amounted to a justifiable use of deadly force and no criminal charges are warranted.

Summary of the Facts

The following events are documented in reports, witness interviews, and BWC footage:
On Friday, May 12, 2023 at 7:57 a.m., Lynchburg Emergency Communications received a call for
a welfare check on 35-year-old Ashley Biggs Neeley. The caller detailed unusual behavior by
Neeley and indicated Neeley had a 5-year-old son with her who was not at school. Officer G. Boras
conducted the welfare check at 8:05 a.m. by speaking to Neeley at her apartment. Boras saw the
young child inside the apartment. Based on the allegations for the welfare check and his own
observations, Boras contacted the Lynchburg Department of Social Services Child Protective
Services (CPS).

Two CPS workers arrived at Neeley’s apartment around 9:30 a.m. that same morning to
check on the welfare of the child (who was a 6-year-old) and to check on the condition of Neeley
as the child’s caretaker. Neeley was familiar to one of the CPS workers. The two CPS workers
entered Neeley’s apartment. The child was present. Neeley said she would not cooperate with CPS.
Neeley was asked to take a drug test. She was told refusal to take the drug test would result in the
same outcome as a positive drug test: CPS would call the child’s father to take custody of the child.
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Neeley again said she would not cooperate. When a CPS worker picked up her phone to call the
father of the child, Neeley began screaming at the CPS workers to “get the fuck out of my house!”
Neeley grabbed one of the CPS workers by the arms and shouted the same statement again. The
other CPS worker tried to pull Neeley’s arms off the coworker. Neeley turned and grabbed this
other CPS worker by the arm and shoved. Both CPS workers left the apartment, hurried to their
car, and called 911 at 9:35 a.m.

Officers S. Evans and G. Boras responded to this call. Both officers wore their LPD issued
uniforms with badges and insignias that conveyed they were law enforcement officers. They took
the statements of the CPS workers in the parking lot then approached Neeley’s apartment located
two flights up. The stairs that led to the apartment landings were open to the outside on one side.
The landings consisted of a small enclosed rectangular space open only on the side of the
stairwells. The landing for Neeley’s apartment contained entrances to 4 apartments with 2 doors
on one side facing the two doors on the other side. Neeley’s apartment door was closest to the
exterior stairs that led to another landing.

Officers Evans and Boras indicated it was their intention to speak to Neeley about the
assault but to leave it to the CPS workers to obtain their own criminal warrants. Officer Boras
stood to the left of Neeley’s apartment door while Officer Evans stood to the right. At 9:50 a.m.
Officer Boras knocked on the front door with at least 12 knocks in rapid succession. Officer Boras
also called out, “Ashley come to the door!” After a brief pause, Officer Evans called out,
“Lynchburg Police come to the door!”

The following occurred over the next 9 seconds:

Neeley opened her door with two knives in her right hand. As soon as she opened the door
she looked directly at Officer Evans and put one of the knives into her left hand. She now had a
knife in each hand in a reverse grip where the handle was in each hand with the knife blade faced
down from her hand. Neeley stared directly at Officer Evans and screamed, “Fuck you!” while she
charged at him. She raised both hands with the knives above her head as she moved forward with
the blades of the knives pointed at Officer Evans’ head and neck. She thrusted her hands downward
toward Officer Evans repeatedly in a stabbing motion at his neck and upper chest. Officer Evans
immediately stepped backwards repeatedly to get away from the attack. His attempted retreat was
limited by the small space on the landing as Neeley’s charge backed him into the enclosed corner
against a wall and other apartment doors.

Officer Evans managed to use his hands to bat away her arms as she swung down at his
body. At one point he grabbed her right arm as she swung down at him but she got her arm away
and swung down on him again. Officer Evans described Neeley’s stabbing motions as coming
“very close to his skin” in areas not covered by his body armor, the force used was “considerable,”
and he believed she intended to kill him.

Neeley pursued Officer Evans in a semicircular path until he was no longer cornered in the
back part of the landing and was able to retreat to the side of Officer Boras. Officer Boras stood in
front of the steps with his department issued firearm pointed at Neeley. Given the speed of the
attack, how close Neeley was to Officer Evans, and Neeley following Evans in the semicircular

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pattern around the landing, Officer Boras did not believe he had a clear shot at Neeley. Officer
Boras also believed that Neeley was attempting to kill Officer Evans.

Officer Evans was now able to unholster his LPD issued firearm and point it at Neeley.
Neeley then stopped moving forward. Neeley kept the knives above her head with the blades facing
out toward the officers. She turned her attention to Officer Boras who yelled at her, “Drop it!
Drop…” The volume of his statement was drowned out by Neeley loudly screaming “Fuck you!”
Officer Boras continued to shout commands, “Drop it! Drop it now!” Neely took a few steps back
then charged at Officer Evans while screaming, “Fuck you!” with the knives up at shoulder level
and blades pointed out at the officer. She closed the distance between herself and the officer
quickly where she was less than 10 feet away when Officer Evans fired one round into her right
shoulder. Neeley continued to grasp the knife in her right hand now at chest level. Neeley dropped
the knife in her left hand after being shot. Neeley took several steps backwards. Officer Evans
radioed to dispatch “shots fired!”

Officers Boras and Evans repeatedly yelled at Neeley to drop the knife still in her right
hand. Neeley sat down on the ground and said she could not drop the knife. Officer Evans
instructed her to use her left hand to remove the knife from her right hand that appeared to be
clinched in place due to the gunshot wound to her right shoulder. Neeley followed this command.
Once she dropped the second knife, she laid down on the ground as she bled from her right
shoulder. Officer Boras approached her to render first aid. Officer Evans continued to hold Neeley
at gun point since the officers did not realize she threw down the knife from her left hand and did
not know where it was located. Officer Evans went into Neeley’s apartment to remove her 6-year-
old son from the scene as other officers and emergency personnel arrived to give medical aid to
Neeley. The child was found in a back bedroom unharmed and was taken to the parking lot. The
child was released to CPS until he could be placed with a family member.

Citizen accounts of the events were consistent with what can be seen and heard on the
BWC recordings. One citizen eye witness to the event described Neeley’s attack as occurring
against the officers “in the blink of an eye.”

Officers Evans and Boras, who were separately interviewed, affirmed they did not use less
deadly force such as a taser. Both officers said using deadly force in this situation was consistent
with their training that when met with deadly force they are to use deadly force to repel or stop the
attack. Officer Evans added that the taser does not work on everyone. Since Evans did not have
the time or distance to use the taser and was confronted with a close-quarters, quick attack with
deadly weapons he used deadly force in response.

Legal Analysis

In a 2018 per curiam opinion, the United States Supreme Court summarized the controlling
legal standard as to when an officer may use deadly force:

[W]hether an officer has used excessive force “requires careful attention to the facts
and circumstances of each particular case, including the severity of the crime at
issue, whether the suspect possess an immediate threat to the safety of the officers
or others, and whether he is actively resisting arrest or attempting to evade arrest

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 by flight. The ‘reasonableness’ of a particular use of force must be judged from the
perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the 20/20 vision
of hindsight. The calculus of reasonableness must embody allowance for the fact
that police officers are often forced to make split-second judgements – in
circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving – about the amount of
force that is necessary in a particular situation.”

Kisela v. Hughes, 584 U.S. ____ (2018) (quoting Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 396 (1989)).

An officer is entitled to use deadly force to protect himself or others only if the amount of
force was not excessive and was reasonable in relation to the perceived threat:

The use of deadly force is an act of necessity and the necessity must be shown to
exist or there must be shown such reasonable apprehension of imminent danger, by
some overt act, as to amount to the creation of necessity. The right to kill in self-
defense begins when the necessity begins and ends when the necessity
ends…Imminent danger is defined as an immediate and perceived threat to one’s
safety or the safety of others.

Couture v. Commonwealth, 51 Va. App. 239 (2008).

VA Code Sec. 19.2-83.5 lists factors to be considered when determining if a law

enforcement officer properly used deadly force. Consistent with these factors, I find that Officer
Evans’ use of deadly force was not excessive and was justifiable self-defense to protect his life
and the life of others. Officer Evans had seconds to respond to Neeley who opened her door armed
with two deadly weapons and immediately attacked the officer. Neeley refused to comply with
commands of either officer until she was shot. After her first attempts to stab Officer Evans in his
neck and upper chest, officers gave her commands to drop her weapons. Neeley instead took steps
backward then charged again at the officer with the blades of the knives pointed at him. Officers
were in a small space with the only routes of escape being the stairs that led up and down from the
apartment landing. Neeley’s apartment door was open for this entire event and officers knew there
was a small child inside as well as citizens on the landing down one flight of steps. Retreating
away from Neeley would have left those citizens and her child in danger. From Neeley’s actions,
it was clear she would not obey any commands or stop her attempts to stab Officer Evans. She
directed curse words and pointed the knives at both Officer Evans and Officer Boras. Officer
Evans’ decision to use deadly force to repel another attack was reasonable and necessary to prevent
the immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury to himself or others.

The body worn camera footage will not be released as Ashley Biggs Neeley recovered from
the shooting and faces pending criminal charges from these events.

Bethany Harrison
Commonwealth’s Attorney
for the City of Lynchburg