Linus Phillip

Linus F. Phillip, 30, was shot four times and killed by Largo, Florida Police Officer Matthew Steiner at a Wawa gas station on March 23, 2018, after a traffic stop for illegally tinted windows. Officers said they smelled marijuana and moved to detain Phillip; he got back into his car and reversed, with Steiner partly inside the vehicle. Police said Steiner, being dragged and pinned between the car and gas pumps, fired in self-defense. Investigators later acknowledged that surveillance footage from the gas station did not actually capture the shooting itself. Weeks later, Largo detectives traveled to the funeral home holding Phillip's body and pressed his finger to his phone in an attempt to unlock it, a move his family called a violation. The State Attorney's Office ruled the shooting justifiable homicide in April 2018. No one has ever been charged in Phillip's death.

Largo, FL · Pinellas County

• 2018: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The traffic stop, the struggle as Phillip attempted to drive away, and the shooting, per Largo Police Department statements and the State Attorney's Office's investigative findings.
• Officer Steiner fired four shots after being partially inside the reversing vehicle and, police said, pinned between the car and nearby gas pumps and concrete stanchions.
• Investigators reviewed multiple surveillance camera angles from the Wawa station but acknowledged the available footage was limited and did not capture the moment of the shooting itself.
• The State Attorney's Office for the 6th Judicial Circuit ruled on April 13, 2018 that the shooting was justifiable homicide under Florida Statute 776.012, finding Steiner acted in lawful self-defense.
• Roughly a month after the shooting, two Largo detectives went to the funeral home holding Phillip's body and held his hand up to his cellphone's fingerprint sensor in an attempt to unlock it as part of the ongoing investigation; the phone did not unlock, and Phillip's fiancee said she felt violated by the act.
• Phillip's family, through attorney John Trevena, disputed the official account and requested an independent second autopsy, saying the released videos did not tell “a full tale.”

• Whether Phillip's vehicle in fact pinned or dragged Steiner in a manner presenting a deadly threat, as police maintained, or whether a different account was possible, given no surveillance footage captured the shooting itself, was disputed by the family and never resolved by any criminal proceeding since none was brought.
• Why Largo police pursued unlocking Phillip's phone at his funeral home rather than through another investigative avenue, and what specific evidence they believed the phone might contain, has not been fully explained in public reporting.
• The outcome of the independent second autopsy the family sought funding for has not been reported publicly.

• Tampa Bay Times — “Largo police release video as State Attorney clears officer in shooting”
• CBS News — “Largo, Florida police use finger of late Linus Phillip to try to unlock his cellphone”
• WFLA — “Family of man killed by Largo police question official version of events”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs