Xzavier Hill

Xzavier Deyonte Hill, 18, of Charlottesville, was shot and killed by Virginia State Police Troopers Benjamin Bone and Seth Layton on Interstate 64 in Goochland County on January 9, 2021, after a high-speed chase ended when his car slid down an embankment. Troopers said Hill reached for and displayed a handgun as they ordered him to show his hands; dashcam audio captured them shouting “Gun! Gun! Gun!” before firing. A stolen handgun was recovered in the passenger seat after the shooting. A multi-jurisdictional grand jury, overseen by a prosecutor who was himself a former state trooper, unanimously found the shooting justified in February 2021. Hill's mother, Latoya Benton, disputed the official account, said her son did not have a gun, and accused police of a cover-up; she later filed a $60 million wrongful death lawsuit, and a judge ordered the troopers to answer her questions under oath in the civil case. No one has ever been charged in Hill's death.

Goochland, VA · Goochland County County

• 2021: 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 attempt, the high-speed chase, and the shooting, per Virginia State Police statements and dashcam footage released by the Goochland Commonwealth's Attorney's Office.
• Troopers attempted to stop Hill for speeding around 4:35 a.m.; he fled, reaching speeds authorities described as high before his car slid down an embankment off Interstate 64 in Goochland County.
• Dashcam audio captured Trooper Bone ordering Hill to put his hands up and Trooper Layton shouting “He's reaching, reaching, reaching!” and then “He's got a gun! Gun! Gun! Gun!” immediately before the troopers opened fire.
• A handgun that had been reported stolen by someone Hill knew was recovered in the passenger seat of the car after the shooting, according to the grand jury's report.
• The investigation was overseen by Goochland Commonwealth's Attorney D. Michael Caudill, himself a former Virginia state trooper; a multi-jurisdictional grand jury convened on February 24, 2021 and unanimously found the troopers' actions “reasonable, justified, and supported by the facts and circumstances,” concluding there was no probable cause to charge either trooper.
• Hill's mother, Latoya Benton, publicly disputed the account after reviewing the same dashcam footage, maintaining her son did not have a gun and stating she believed police were “hiding something.”
• The Virginia NAACP publicly called on the governor and state attorney general to pursue further review and broader reforms requiring independent investigations of officer-involved shootings, citing Hill's case specifically.
• Benton filed a $60 million federal wrongful death lawsuit against the troopers and Virginia State Police; a judge later ordered the troopers to answer written questions from Benton about the night of the shooting as part of that civil case.

• Whether Hill in fact displayed a handgun in the moments before he was shot, as the troopers and the grand jury's report concluded, or whether his movement was misperceived, as his mother has maintained, was never independently tested at any criminal trial since the grand jury declined to indict.
• Whether the underlying grand jury proceeding, overseen by a prosecutor who was himself a former state trooper, and the version of the evidence and footage presented to the public afterward were complete, has been specifically disputed by the family's attorney, who noted only limited camera angles were released.
• The full content of any additional footage or evidence not released alongside the initial single-angle dashcam video has not been made comprehensively public.

• Newsweek — “Xzavier Hill Shooting by Virginia State Police Ruled Justified in Unanimous Grand Jury Decision”
• WRIC (ABC 8News) — “Virginia NAACP calls for criminal justice reform after officer-involved shooting death of Xzavier Hill”
• VPM — “Virginia Troopers Ordered to Answer Questions in Hill Case”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs