Fil-Am shot dead in Virginia

CHICAGO – A Filipino-American employee of a company affiliated with superstore chain Costco was shot dead by responding sheriff’s deputies of Loudoun County last Wednesday afternoon inside the discount store in Sterling, Virginia.

Filipino-American human rights lawyer and Migrant Heritage Commission (MHC) co-executive director Arnedo Valera said Mylene de Leon Scott, 38, of Dulles Town Center, was armed with a knife or a pair of scissors when she was gunned down.

Scott, reportedly a food server of the Club Demonstration Services that provides services to Costco, was allegedly behaving strangely and had threatened her supervisor.

According to Washington Post, the two deputies went to the store to check a report of a disorderly person and used a Taser electroshock device to try to subdue Scott.

But Scott kept advancing, so one of the deputies fired at her and killed her. The second deputy was wounded, possibly when a bullet ricocheted and hit his leg. He is expected to recover.

Preliminary reports said that Scott “came at the deputies with a knife” and “ignored orders to drop the weapon.”

Between four and five shots were heard that caused Costco customers to scamper for safety.

Valera said the deputies apparently used excessive and unnecessary force against Scott and the incident should be thoroughly investigated.

“The victim only had a knife or a pair of scissors, and what could have been done to quell an impending attack would just be to hit her in non-fatal parts of the body,” he said.

The MHC has expressed sympathy to the family of Scott and is contacting her relatives to provide free legal services to them, through the MHC Legal Resources Program.

“We are now in the process of contacting immediate family members of the deceased to extend whatever support we can give to them in these difficult times,” MHC co-executive director Grace Valera said.

Jesse Gatchalian, another MHC co-executive director, said it is hard to believe the deputies had to shoot and kill her, when there was no actual and impending threat to their lives.

“There seems to be a showing that the deputies of Loudoun County were not properly trained to deal with this type of situation,” said Gatchalian.

“We call on the Fil-Am community and the immigrant community in general to lend moral support in demanding an objective investigation of this tragic incident so that justice can be achieved,” Valera said.

Meanwhile, the Philippine embassy yesterday called for a thorough, impartial and expeditious investigation into the fatal shooting of Scott.

In a statement, the embassy also extended its deepest sympathy to the family of Scott.

Philippine Ambassador Jose Cuisia Jr. said the embassy “shares the concerns expressed by Ms. Scott’s family in the Philippines and the members of the Filipino-American community that law enforcement officials may have responded with disproportionate force.”

Cuisia said the embassy stands ready to extend its assistance to the family of Ms. Scott.

“We will continue to coordinate with police authorities in Loudoun County to secure more information on this case,” he said.

Cuisia said that as soon as it was informed of the incident on Thursday morning, the embassy reached out to Scott’s next of kin to extend its condolences and to offer its assistance. – With Pia Lee-Brago