Police Brutality / Individual record
Michelle Lee Shirley
The Washington Post's Fatal Force database records Michelle Lee Shirley in a fatal on-duty police shooting on 2016-10-31 in Torrance, CA. Individual circumstances and legal outcome require case-specific review.
- Record ID
- PB-541
- Incident date
- October 31, 2016
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Torrance, CA
- Agency
- Torrance Police Department
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 39
What happened
Michelle Lee Shirley, 39, a UC San Diego graduate studying for the California bar exam, was shot and killed by Torrance police on October 31, 2016. Callers reported an erratically driven car with collision damage and deployed airbags. Officers pursued her and used a controlled vehicle intervention to block the car. Police said Shirley then drove into patrol cars and moved toward officers, who fired. Her relatives challenged why gunfire was necessary once officers surrounded the vehicle and sought a fuller explanation of the encounter. The underlying driving allegations are part of the department's version, while the family's objections reflect questions about the final seconds and whether Shirley represented an immediate threat.
Investigation & findings
Individual legal and investigative outcome not yet reviewed.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 2006
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- female
- Armed status (source)
- vehicle
- Flee status (source)
- car
- Agency IDs (source)
- 1507
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