Police Brutality / Individual record
Janisha Fonville
Janisha Fonville, 20, was shot and killed by a Charlotte police officer inside her apartment during a mental-health-related call on February 18, 2015.
- Record ID
- PB-107
- Incident date
- February 18, 2015
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Charlotte, NC
- Agency
- Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 20
What happened
Janisha Fonville's girlfriend requested police assistance at a north Charlotte apartment and alerted responding officers to concerns about her mental state and possible possession of a knife. Officers Anthony Holzhauer and a colleague entered while Fonville was seated on a couch. Holzhauer said she suddenly lunged toward him with a knife, and he shot her twice. Fonville's girlfriend told investigators that she was uncertain whether a knife was in Fonville's hand when she moved. Fonville died at the scene. Her death exposed the risk of sending armed officers into urgent mental-health situations and raised questions about whether a nonlethal response or additional crisis resources might have changed the outcome.
Investigation & findings
In April 2015 the Mecklenburg County district attorney declined charges after evaluating officers' statements and witness testimony. The girlfriend's uncertainty about the knife remains a material nuance in the district attorney's account.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 163
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- female
- Armed status (source)
- knife
- Flee status (source)
- not
- Agency IDs (source)
- 354
Sources & records
- Primary source
- Additional source
- Methodology and national police killings trackingMapping Police Violence · Dataset/methodology
- Fatal Force v2 — fatal on-duty police shootings, 2015–2024The Washington Post · Dataset
- Fatal Force methodology and data limitationsThe Washington Post · Methodology