Shooting foul or pass??

[Mark Dexter]

I know this is one that has been discussed before, but I can't seem to find any of the threads (you'd be amazed by how many posts come up when you search for "shooting foul" :-D)

A1 drives the lane, picks up his dribble, jumps into the air. B1 then hacks A1's arms, forcing A1 to throw the ball down into a pass. Do you shoot two free throws, or rule that this was a pass attempt.

We had a double whistle and (thankfully) both my partner and I signalled a shooting foul. My rationale was that picking up the dribble and jumping was the "characteristic motion before the shot" and that he would have shot if not for the foul forcing his hands down.

Any thoughts? What if there is clearly no one in the area to which the ball was thrown? How about whistle before/after release?