Mi'Chance Dunlap-Gittens

The Washington Post's Fatal Force database records Mi'Chance Dunlap-Gittens in a fatal on-duty police shooting on 2017-01-28 in Des Moines, WA. Individual circumstances and legal outcome require case-specific review.

What happened

Mi'Chance Dunlap-Gittens, 17, was shot and killed by plainclothes King County sheriff's deputies in Des Moines, Washington, on January 27, 2017, during an undercover operation targeting someone else. Deputies had arranged a meeting while posing as a 15-year-old girl seeking alcohol and intended to apprehend a teenage acquaintance of Dunlap-Gittens. When deputies unexpectedly emerged from an unmarked vehicle, Dunlap-Gittens fled. Investigators said one deputy believed the teenager had a firearm and opened fire; his family challenged the claim that he posed a threat. The botched sting and the fact that Dunlap-Gittens was not its intended target became central to a federal civil-rights lawsuit. In May 2020, King County agreed to pay his family $2.25 million to settle the claims. The county prosecutor's public-integrity index lists a declined prosecution decision and a completed inquest. A civil settlement resolves disputed claims without itself establishing criminal guilt or a court verdict on the officers' conduct.

Investigation & findings

Individual legal and investigative outcome not yet reviewed.

What happened

Investigation & findings

Sources & records