LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Attorneys for the parents of Jorge Gomez say they have video evidence that contradicts police accounts of the June 1 shooting near the Lloyd George U.S. Courthouse that left the 25-year-old dead.
Gomez was killed by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers as he openly carried a weapon and wore body armor as Black Lives Matter protests occurred in Las Vegas.
Attorneys say they have obtained new evidence and videos that show that Gomez never pointed a gun at police or anybody else, contrary to claims by Metro police. The videos will be shown and made available to media at a 9 a.m. Friday, Feb. 19, news conference at the courthouse, attorney said.
Lawyers from Gonzalez & Flores Law Firm say the new evidence “shows that the use of deadly force against Mr. Gomez was excessive and unreasonable.” The Las Vegas law firm is representing Gomez’s mother, Jeanne Llera, and father, Jorge L. Gomez, along with Claggett & Sykes Law Firm of Las Vegas and the Los Angeles-based Law Offices of Dale K. Galipo.
A federal civil rights lawsuit was filed Aug. 29, 2020, against four Metro officers, as well as other unnamed officers. Lawyers say more officers will be named in an amended lawsuit that will be available on Friday.
Gomez was killed on a chaotic night of protests in which authorities dispersed protesters at the courthouse, and Metro officer Shay Mikalonis was shot several miles away in an unrelated incident. As officers responded to that call near Circus Circus, a group of four officers came across Gomez, who had just left the courthouse, where he had been outside the main group of protesters but had drawn police attention.
Information released today by attorneys indicates that police had fired bean-bag rounds at Gomez, and Gomez had fled to the south.
“New released video shows that shortly after Mr. Gomez began to run in the opposite direction of where the bean-bags rounds were being fired at him, Mr. Gomez fell to the ground, quickly got up and grabbed a duffle bag he had been carrying by the strap with his right hand, and continued to run away from the direction of the officer who was firing less than lethal rounds,” attorneys said.
“The video shows Mr. Gomez with nothing in his left hand and only the strap from his duffle bag in the right hand as he continues to run in the opposite direction of the officer who is firing the less-than-lethal rounds and is fatally shot by LVMPD Officers Ryan Fryman, Dan Emerton, Vernon Ferguson and Andrew Locher approximately 1 second later,” according to attorneys.
That sequence of events describes a situation that unfolds much faster than previous accounts from Metro officers, who described their actions in detail as they spotted Gomez and approached him before the shooting.
“The video contradicts the involved officers’ allegations that Mr. Gomez pointed a gun at them,” lawyers said. “In fact, based on the video evidence, Mr. Gomez does not even face in the direction of the shooting officers, who were positioned on the opposite side of Las Vegas Blvd., and Mr. Gomez is seen running in the direction and away from the shooting officers.”
