Grim Report Details Final Moments Of Granbury Man Killed By Arizona Police

GRANBURY, TX -- A newly released police report records the final moments of a North Texas man who pleaded with officers not to shoot only to meet his death while trying to pull his pants as he crawled on the ground on orders of Arizona police.

The events leading to the death of Daniel Shaver represent a tragic series of miscues.

The final miscue occurred when an officer shot the 26-year-old Granbury man, mistaking his attempts to pull his pants up as a move to reach for a hidden firearm.

The incident occurred Jan. 18, when police were called to a La Quinta Inn in Mesa, Ariz., where Shaver was staying while on a work-related trip. A pest control specialist, Shaver had a pellet rifle in his room that is used at the behest of Walmart to kill birds entering the store.

That rifle would lead to the man’s death.

A call was made after a guest of Shaver’s was seen handling the pellet gun from the hotel window. Shaver had invited a couple to join him in his room for drinks, and the man was examining the tool of his trade.

When police arrived, they asked Shaver and a woman who was with him to exit the hotel room, according to the police report. Shaver complied, raising his hands and falling to his knees. He then lay on the ground on orders of police, the report says.

Shaver is described as “obviously compliant and offered no resistance at that point,” the report reads. Shaver then was ordered to put his hands behind his head, cross his legs, told that if he moved, he’d be considered a threat.

The woman was ordered to crawl towards them, and Shaver was asked to assume the kneeling position once more. Failing to immediately raise his hands while kneeling, he’s told: “If you do that again, we’re shooting you. Do you understand?” by an officer at the scene.

Shaver pleaded: “No, please don’t shoot me,” while openly sobbing.

The officers then commanded him to crawl toward them, as Shaver complied while continuing to sob. But as he crawled, he moved his hand toward his waist.

That move ended up being a fatal mistake.

Philip Brailsford, the two-year Mesa Police Department officer, reacting by firing five shots from his AR-15 weapon, killing him.

The police report doesn’t exonerate Brailford: “The movement of Shaver’s right arm in the recording was a very similar motion to someone drawing a pistol from their waist band,” the report reads. However: “Shaver’s underwear were clearly visible and it appeared his shorts had fallen partially down his leg at that point. Shaver’s motion was also consistent with attempting to pull his shorts up as they were falling off.”

The officer is now in court, charged with second-degree murder.

Body camera footage was taken from one of the officers’ viewpoint, but Mesa police have yet to release it. State prosecutors and Brailsford’s defense attorneys are arguing that the footage should remain sealed.

BuzzFeed News reported that Laney Sweet, Shaver’s widow, recorded a conversation with a prosecutor who told her she could view the body camera footage, but only if she agreed not to speak to members of the media about it.

She declined, and uploaded audio of the conversation to YouTube. Another YouTube video shows the grieving widow pleading with people to help share her story toward achieving justice.

The widow has filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the Mesa police force for the death of her husband and father of their two young children.

She's also launched a GoFundMe drive dubbed "Justice for Daniel Shaver" to help defray legal costs and for the benefit of Shaver's daughters.

She describes her dead husband as her best friend and "the love of my life," "the glue that held me together."

In her plea for donations, Sweet notes the emotional toll the death has had on her daughters: "Our oldest, Natalie (6), is a true daddy's girl and they had a very special bond. Emery (4) misses her daddy and is crying for him during the night asking me, 'Why can't people come back alive?' "

>>> Photo of Philip Brailsford via Maricopa County Sheriff's Office