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Mesa officer facing murder charge due in court

Posted at 10:45 PM, Mar 14, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-15 09:46:36-04

A Mesa police officer is due in court Tuesday morning to face a murder charge in connection with a shooting death at a hotel.

Prosecutors charged Philip Brailsford with second degree murder in the January death of Daniel Shaver.

“It’s been… devastating,” Shaver's widow, Laney Sweet, said Monday night.

Shaver was at a La Quinta Inn on a work trip from Texas when police got a call about a man pointing a gun out of his room’s window, according to Mesa Police.

Police ordered Shaver out of his room and instructed him to crawl toward them, prosecutors said.

When Shaver reached toward his back, Brailsford shot him, prosecutors said.

Sweet traveled from Texas for the Tuesday morning court appearance.

“We’re all hurting,” Sweet said of herself and the two daughters she had with Shaver.

Her attorney, Marc Victor, said on Monday that he was shown the body camera footage from the incident.

He would not discuss the video’s content.

Brailsford’s lawyer previously said that his client was surprised by the charge, believing the shooting was appropriate for the situation.