On the evening of April 23, 2011, a 26-year-old Kazakhstani man named Kirill Ivanovich Denyakin was shot and killed in Portsmouth, Virginia. The fatal encounter occurred when Portsmouth Police Officer Stephen Rankin responded to a call about a disturbance at the apartment building where Denyakin was staying. Denyakin, who was a native of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, had been living in the United States on a temporary visa he obtained in 2006 and had overstayed to continue working.
According to
the Portsmouth Police Department, upon arriving at the scene, Officer Rankin encountered Denyakin, who was intoxicated. The police account stated that Denyakin ignored Rankin's verbal commands, made a hand movement, and then lunged at the officer, which prompted Rankin to open fire. An autopsy later revealed that Denyakin had been shot 11 times, with wounds to his chest, shoulder, arm, thigh, hip, wrist, and hand. His blood alcohol content was found to be 0.28%. At the time of the shooting, Denyakin was unarmed.
Denyakin's family and friends disputed the police's version of events. His family's attorney argued that Denyakin was so inebriated he could barely walk, let alone charge at an officer. A friend who was present earlier in the day stated that Denyakin had been drinking screwdriver cocktails. Some witnesses claimed that Denyakin had been trying to get into the apartment building where he was staying and was banging on the door. One friend, Maurice Wilson, suggested that non-lethal force, such as a taser or pepper spray, could have been used, and that Denyakin had tripped rather than lunged.
The investigation into the shooting was handled by the Virginia State Police. In February 2012, a grand jury declined to indict Officer Stephen Rankin on any criminal charges. The case was also reviewed by the Justice Department. Denyakin's family filed a $22 million civil lawsuit against Rankin, accusing him of using excessive force, cruel and unusual punishment, assault and battery, and gross negligence. However, in March 2012, a jury in the civil trial found Rankin not culpable for Denyakin's death.
Four years after the shooting of Kirill Denyakin, Officer Rankin was involved in another fatal shooting. In April 2015, he shot and killed William Chapman, an unarmed 18-year-old African-American man, in a Walmart parking lot. Following this second incident, Rankin was indicted on a charge of first-degree murder and was ultimately convicted of voluntary manslaughter in August 2016. The death of William Chapman drew comparisons to the killing of Denyakin and led to renewed calls from community activists and Kazakhstani officials for a review of Denyakin's case.
