Police Brutality / Individual record
William Chapman II
The Washington Post's Fatal Force database records William Chapman II in a fatal on-duty police shooting on 2015-04-22 in Portsmouth, VA. Individual circumstances and legal outcome require case-specific review.
- Record ID
- PB-161
- Incident date
- April 22, 2015
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Portsmouth, VA
- Agency
- Portsmouth Police Department
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 18
What happened
Eighteen-year-old William Chapman II was killed outside a Portsmouth, Virginia, Walmart on April 22, 2015. Officer Stephen Rankin approached Chapman in response to a shoplifting report, and the encounter escalated rapidly. Rankin shot Chapman in the chest and face after a brief confrontation; Chapman was unarmed. Rankin argued that the shooting was self-defense, but a Virginia jury convicted him of voluntary manslaughter in August 2016. The Court of Appeals of Virginia later affirmed that conviction, rejecting Rankin's claims of trial error. The case is significant because the criminal prosecution resulted in a conviction rather than simply an internal finding. Court records, rather than initial police statements, provide the strongest verified account of the disposition.
Investigation & findings
Individual legal and investigative outcome not yet reviewed.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 391
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- male
- Armed status (source)
- unarmed
- Flee status (source)
- not
- Agency IDs (source)
- 286
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