Special Police Officer Sentenced for 7-Eleven Shooting

By Laura Berol - April 22, 2024
Daily Stories | Non-Fatal Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

DC Superior Court Judge Erik Christian sentenced Chanel Clinton to three years in prison for shooting a chat-group acquaintance in the shoulder while working as a Special Police Officer (SPO) at a 7-Eleven.

Clinton, 27, was originally charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence for her involvement in a non-fatal shooting on January 18, outside of a 7-Eleven on the 4800 block of Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue, NE. One person was injured in the incident.

As part of a plea deal, Clinton pleaded guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon, in exchange for the prosecution not indicting her on other charges.  

At the sentencing hearing on April 22, Clinton’s attorney, John J. Sample, argued the incident occurred because the victim was filming Clinton in the 7-Eleven as part of a harassment campaign by a chat group that Clinton formerly belonged to.

When Clinton confronted the victim about the filming, the victim spat at her.

“She was as much a source of the conflict as my client, but she [Clinton] was the one who got arrested,” Sample said.

Sample attributed Clinton’s actions, in part, to failures by her employer. He argued that Clinton accidentally shot the victim while trying to fire a warning shot, which was not safe in such a crowded space.

“I think this was a lack of training on her management’s part,” Sample opined.

Sample argued that Clinton was assigned to the 7-Eleven too soon after the robbery of a Walmart that was her previous posting as an SPO.

“My client was held at gunpoint at the Walmart while the perpetrators went in the back room and stole money,” Sample recounted. “Because this robbery was less than a week before this event, that was why my client was hypervigilant.”

Sample hypothesized that the Walmart robbery might have given Clinton post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and she might have responded better at the 7-Eleven if she had gotten mental health treatment. He testified that the treatment she has received since the shooting has helped her.

“She has been seeing a therapist who has prescribed the anti-depressant Lexapro,” Sample reported. “I believe she is learning to cope with these stressful effects from the past.”

Sample asked Judge Christian to sentence Clinton to time served, with probation and therapy.

Clinton personally apologized to the court, her own family, the victim, and the victim’s family. 

“I would like to say I am very remorseful for the actions that have led me here,” Clinton said, adding that she could have handled the situation “a little bit better.”

The prosecutor requested a sentence at the upper limit of what the voluntary sentencing guidelines indicate. 

Even though Clinton has no criminal record, the prosecutor urged that discharging her firearm at the victim justified a sentence of 60 months incarceration and 3 years supervised release.

“She was put in a position of trust, she was licensed to be in that position of trust, and she abused it,” the prosecutor stated.

The prosecutor displayed footage from the body-worn camera of an off-duty Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) sergeant who intervened in the conflict. The video shows the officer attempting to restrain Clinton.

“Stop. Stop. Stop,” the sergeant is heard to say. “Quit fighting. Quit fighting.” When he attempts to call for backup, Clinton shoots the victim.

Pointing his service weapon at Clinton, the sergeant commands, “Get on the ground.”

“Look what that b**** just did. She hit me,” Clinton responds, still standing.

“Shots fired,” the sergeant says into his radio.

“She hit me first,” Clinton complains as she kneels on the pavement.

Judge Christian questioned Clinton about statements she made in the pre-sentence report.

“I felt my life was at risk. The police officer held me back and let her strike me,” Judge Christian read from the report, quoting Clinton. 

“Is she asserting self-defense?” Judge Christian asked Clinton’s attorney. Addressing Clinton herself, he told her she could claim that defense if the case went to trial.

Clinton explained that she didn’t intend to withdraw her guilty plea but wanted to identify the pressures on her that contributed to the shooting.

“I just want to point out that the harassment went on for more than a year,” Clinton stated. “I removed myself from this group of females, and the harassment happened on multiple job sites. I was removed from multiple job sites because of this group of females.”

Judge Christian asked Clinton what she thought motivated the harassment.

“I just stopped being friends with them,” Clinton said.

“How was that an appropriate response, that you used your firearm?” Judge Christian asked.

“It was not an appropriate response, but…” Clinton began, when her attorney stopped her.

“You are placed in a higher position because of your position as a Special Police Officer,” Judge Christian declared. He suggested that her lack of self-control could have led her to shoot and kill a kid stealing a Slurpee.

Judge Christian ruled that Clinton receive five years incarceration, with two years of the sentence suspended, followed by five years of supervised probation. He also gave a suspended sentence of three years supervised release, ordered mental health evaluation and treatment, and issued a stay-away order from the victim.