Search fatalities

Shiane Marie Selph

Age : 21

Gender : Female

Race : White

Date : 09/16/2021

Location : Beaulah Street and A Price Drive, near FM 14 and Hawkins High School

City : Hawkins

County : Wood

State : Texas

Agency : Hawkins Police Department

Officer(s) :Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police after reported attack

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 09/16/2021, a Hawkins Police Department officer shot and killed 21-year-old Shiane Marie Selph near FM 14 and Hawkins High School after police received a disturbance call reporting a woman in the roadway. The shooting occurred at approximately 4:45 p.m.
.
According to Hawkins Police Chief Manfred Gilow, police received the call at approximately 5 p.m. reporting a disturbance in the roadway. A witness caught in stopped traffic reported seeing Selph in the roadway with a machete and alleged that she was striking or attacking passing vehicles with it. Police said more than eight witnesses were present during the encounter.
.
Police alleged that when the patrol officer arrived, Selph turned toward him and advanced while swinging or slashing the machete. Chief Gilow said the officer initially attempted to de-escalate the confrontation rather than immediately firing his gun.
.
The officer then deployed a Taser against Selph. Police said the Taser was ineffective. According to Gilow, Selph continued toward the officer and the machete made contact with him, although the officer was not physically injured. The officer then opened fire, killing Selph at the scene.
.
The available account therefore establishes an important sequence before the fatal gunfire: the officer confronted Selph alone, attempted verbal de-escalation, deployed a Taser, and fired his gun only after police alleged the Taser failed and Selph continued toward him with the machete. At least eight witnesses reportedly observed portions of the incident.
.
The Texas Rangers assumed responsibility for investigating the fatal shooting at the request of the Hawkins Police Department. Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Sgt. Jean Dark confirmed that Rangers were requested to conduct the investigation.
.
Police initially declined to release either Selph's identity or the identity of the officer who killed her. Chief Gilow said the shooting officer was placed on paid administrative leave while the Texas Rangers investigated.
.
The encounter was recorded. Contemporary reporting specifically states that investigators were withholding dash-camera and body-camera video while the Rangers' investigation was underway. The existence of those recordings is significant because the video should provide direct evidence of Selph's actions, the officer's attempted de-escalation, the Taser deployment, the distance between Selph and the officer and the circumstances immediately preceding the gunfire.
.
Despite the existence of eyewitnesses and police video, the readily accessible later public record provides remarkably little information about the ultimate disposition of the shooting. The Texas Rangers investigation was acknowledged publicly, but the materials located for this update do not establish a later public release of the investigative findings or video.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND
The Hawkins police officer who shot and killed Selph has not been publicly identified in the records located for this update.
.
The agency itself subsequently experienced substantial instability. Hawkins is a very small East Texas city, and later reporting documented repeated personnel and governmental turmoil involving its police department. Chief Manfred Gilow, who publicly described the circumstances of Selph's shooting, resigned in June 2022. By 2025, Hawkins had experienced further police departures and dismissals, public discussion about potentially disbanding the department, and a period in which the department reportedly operated with only one officer.
.
Those later departmental problems do not establish wrongdoing in Selph's 2021 killing. The more directly relevant accountability issue is that the fatal shooting itself was turned over to the Texas Rangers, involved numerous reported civilian witnesses and was captured on police video, while the shooting officer's identity and a readily accessible final public accounting of the investigation remain difficult to establish years later.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.kltv.com/2021/09/17/machete-wielding-woman-shot-by-hawkins-police-after-advancing-officer/
https://www.kltv.com/2021/09/17/texas-rangers-called-investigate-hawkins-officer-involved-shooting/
https://www.easttexaslocal.net/timeline-what-is-going-on-in-the-city-of-hawkins/