New body camera footage shows Mackenzie Shirilla’s father angrily berating Ohio police after her arrest for two murders, calling her a “stupid 18-year-old” and demanding that she not be questioned.
Mackenzie, nicknamed “Hell on Wheels,” was arrested on November 4, 2022, months after she drove her car into a building, killing her boyfriend Dominic Russo, 20, and her friend Davion Flanagan, 18.
Her father, Steven Shirilla, arrived at the Strongsville police station less than an hour later and argued with officers for nearly three minutes. He called her arrest “unbelievable.”
In the newly released footage obtained by Fox News, Steven can be heard telling the officers, “I need to talk to my daughter.”
“You’re not allowed to speak to her at all; the lawyer ordered it. He doesn’t want you to speak to her,” he added. “This is unbelievable; she’s only 18!”
He then became enraged about the decision to arrest Mackenzie over the weekend. He argued that the authorities should have contacted him so he could have brought her to the station himself.
An officer calmly explained that his daughter had been arrested that day because the judge had signed the warrant that day.
Steven only escalated his rhetoric, accusing the officers of having a “spy outside the house watching the family.”
Mackenzie Shirilla’s father, Steven Shirilla, lashed out at the Ohio police after his daughter’s arrest in 2022. He called her a “stupid 18-year-old” and demanded that she not be questioned.
In July 2022, Strongsville police responded to an accident in which a Camry crashed into a brick building at nearly 100 mph (160 km/h). Mackenzie was identified as the driver.
Mackenzie was arrested on November 4, 2022, months after she crashed her car into the building, killing her boyfriend Dominic Russo, 20, and her friend Davion Flanagan, 18.
He paced restlessly, repeatedly insisting that the police were not allowed to interrogate his daughter. He demanded to be allowed to speak with her so that she wouldn’t talk to the investigators and would keep quiet.
An officer reminded him that Mackenzie was 18 years old and could speak for herself—something Steven immediately disagreed with.
“Yeah, but she’s just a stupid 18-year-old who just turned 18,” he said. When his wife, Natalie Shirilla, protested with a slight laugh, he doubled down, adding, “All teenagers these days are stupid.”
The officers again denied his request to see her, explaining that Mackenzie would have to invoke her right to remain silent in order to speak to anyone.
As Steven left the station, he shouted, “She’s not allowed to talk to you, I’m telling you!” and added before walking away, “Don’t ask her any questions!”
Mackenzie was ultimately convicted of murder in August 2023 and is currently serving two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life each at the Ohio Reformatory for Women.
The case garnered national attention, not least because of disturbing details about Mackenzie’s behavior before the crash. Her actions were brought back into the public eye after the release of the Netflix documentary “The Crash.”
Since the series’ release, Fox 8 News learned that Steven will not be returning to his position as an art teacher at the Mary Queen of Peace School.
Steven argued with officers at the station for nearly three minutes, calling Mackenzie’s arrest “unbelievable.”
In a video published by TMZ, a police officer at the scene can be heard saying, “Radio, the car is ripped in two.”
Judge Nancy Margaret Russo, who presided over the case, described Mackenzie’s actions as “controlled, methodical, deliberate, intentional, and purposeful.”
Steven repeatedly said the police were not allowed to question his daughter and insisted on being allowed to speak with her so she wouldn’t say anything.
“Personnel decisions at Catholic schools fall under the jurisdiction of each individual school in the Diocese of Cleveland,” the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland told Fox News Digital.
“For privacy reasons, neither the schools nor the diocese typically comment publicly on personnel matters,” they added. “However, we can confirm that Mr. Steve Shirilla will not be returning to Mary Queen of Peace School.”
Steven’s outburst at the police station occurred less than four months after officers from the Strongsville Police Department were called to a crash in which a Camry slammed into a brick building at nearly 100 mph (160 km/h). Mackenzie was identified as the driver.
“Radio, the car’s ripped in two,” a police officer can be heard saying in newly surfaced body camera footage released by TMZ as he traverses a debris field.
Mackenzie, then 17, was extricated from the car and airlifted to MetroHealth Hospital after being trapped between the driver’s seat and the door. Dominic and Davion were pronounced dead after being rescued from the wreckage.
At the trial, prosecutors argued that the crash was no accident, citing video footage that they claimed indicated deliberate action rather than a loss of control. Judge Nancy Margaret Russo, who presided over the trial, agreed.
“This wasn’t reckless driving—this was murder,” she said at sentencing in 2023. “She had a mission and she carried it out precisely. The verdict was death.”
According to a presentation to the grand jury, the car was traveling at 145 km/h in a 55 km/h zone. The data showed that seconds before the crash, she accelerated hard and did not brake.
Mackenzie has long maintained that she suffered a medical emergency at the wheel.
Mackenzie was convicted of murder in August 2023 and is currently serving two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life each at the Ohio Reformatory for Women.
Judge Russo described Mackenzie’s actions as “controlled, methodical, deliberate, intentional, and purposeful” and concluded that she intended to kill the two young men.
She was convicted on multiple charges, including vehicular manslaughter and aggravated assault, and sentenced to a lengthy prison term with the possibility of parole.
Mackenzie has long maintained that she suffered a medical emergency at the wheel in the early hours of that fateful day when she crashed her Toyota Camry into the Plidco building.
When she later learned that her case was back in the news, Mackenzie was caught laughing during a phone call from prison with her mother.
They giggled as they said the Daily Mail had published her pleas of innocence in an exclusive report in which former fellow inmates claimed she had become a lesbian sex worker behind bars and had been repeatedly disciplined for violating prison rules.
During their phone call, the two laughed when Mackenzie speculated that Kim Kardashian might take up her case, having tried several times in recent years to publicize the pleas of inmates.
After her request for a new trial was rejected in March, the now 21-year-old can expect possible parole no earlier than 2037.
