Police Brutality / Individual record
Earl Pinckney
The Washington Post's Fatal Force database records Earl Pinckney in a fatal on-duty police shooting on 2016-08-07 in Harrisburg, PA. Individual circumstances and legal outcome require case-specific review.
- Record ID
- PB-494
- Incident date
- August 7, 2016
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Harrisburg, PA
- Agency
- Harrisburg Police Department
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 20
What happened
Earl “Shaleek” Pinckney, 20, was shot and killed by Harrisburg Officer Tony Elliott on August 7, 2016, during a family confrontation on Green Street. Officers were called after an argument and reports that Pinckney had a knife. Police said he held it to his mother Kim Thomas's neck and was shot to protect her. Thomas disputed that account, initially saying her son was shot through a window. An autopsy established a fatal shot through his chest; the coroner initially declined to disclose the bullet's trajectory. Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico investigated and announced in January 2017 that Elliott would not be charged. The official conclusions and family's objections should be distinguished.
Investigation & findings
Individual legal and investigative outcome not yet reviewed.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 1764
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- male
- Armed status (source)
- knife
- Flee status (source)
- not
- Agency IDs (source)
- 1398
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