CHL holder killed by police in Las Vegas at a Costco

[Carry-a-Kimber]

Anything new with this case?

[baldeagle]

Anything new with this case?

The Sherrif and DA both won reelection by wide margins, and two more people have been killed by LVMPD, one of whom was unarmed. The lawsuit has been filed, but it will be a while before that ends up in court, if it ever does.

[Fangs]

On this, the six-month anniversary of Erik being gunned down in front of the Summerlin Costco, we launched "THE PERMIT," a serialized, online book of fiction based on actual events (http://thepermit.blogspot.com/).

It's a techno-thriller that depicts a covert Dept. of Homeland Security unit avenging Erik's death, using classified, high-tech means. Those responsible are ALL held accountable....at least in fiction.

Got that from the Facebook group.

[RVN War Dawg]

This shows how careful a CHL holder must be!

In the recent Tucson shooting an AZ CHL responded. He was leaving a store in the shopping center when he heard the shots. He was interviewed and stated that he responded because he was armed. His handgun was never unholstered. He arrived on scene just after the shooter had been disarmed and was on the ground. Upon arrival the handgun in the hands of one of the men who had disarmed the shooter. He yelled for the man to drop the gun and he did. That point was never mentioned elsewhere by the press. I am not suprised that the press would play down that a CCL holder was there, responded, and did not blast away.

As retired law enforcement, If circumstances would occur where I needed to use deadly force, I would draw, administer the response, and holster my weapon as soon as possible. I would not want to be holding a weapon when any police arrive to a reported shooting. If you are on scene when police arrive, keep your hand over your head, until they know that you are not the bad guy. If they tell you to lay down on the ground do so! Once a potential suspect is at a physical disadvantage, the "pucker" factor is lowered for the responding police. Believe me, I can attest to that. I would even consider laying down on the ground, face down until police sort out the situation. Responding units would immediately think of you as a victim, not a threat. And approach you differently.

Thirty or forty years ago, the young entered law enforcement to help society. Now it's a question of surviving with crappy hours, high divorce rate, high alcohol addiction, and other fine benefits of the job. I had a friend eat a bullet at the end of a long career. Law enforcement members have less respect, have to constant aware of the possibility of being sued, and split second decisions are reviewed in the press by numerous experts. These experts are usually intellectuals that have no clue what real life is.

The "Sophia King" case in Austin proved that. See http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2002-08-02/99074/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; The police officer went thru several "inquisitions"before it ended. The first investigation declared it a clean shooting. The person threatned with a knife was interviewed once and stated that she was in fear of her life.

[G Wagner]

The two Metro officer's receive an honor for their involvement in the Costco (Las Vegas) incident..



http://lasvegas.cbslocal.com/2011/04/15 ... nal-honor/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[WildBill]

The two Metro officer's receive an honor for their involvement in the Costco (Las Vegas) incident..

This is truly unbelievable. I can't wait to hear what Bill Scott will say about this.

[philip964]

What about the third officer. What a travesty to leave him out. And only an honorable mention, what is the world coming to.

[sjfcontrol]

What about the third officer. What a travesty to leave him out. And only an honorable mention, what is the world coming to.

In January, Mendiola was charged with a felony for unlawfully giving a handgun to a twice-convicted felon in an unrelated case. His preliminary hearing is set for May.

[philip964]

The Las Vegas police are at it again.

http://nevadashooters.com/showthread.php?t=18851" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For some unknown reason the video of the beating was not erased and did not malfunction.

[WildBill]

There's already a thread on this. viewtopic.php?f=108&t=44470" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Keith B]

The other thread will be removed due to not allowing links to the newspaper refered to, so let's keep it in here.

[philip964]

As a sort of general Las Vegas update, a year has passed since Erik Scott was shot by police outside the high end Summerlin Costco store.

Erik was a concealed handgun license holder in a state where open carry is allowed. Erik was also a West Point graduate, with a Masters from Duke, former tank Captain in the United States Army and one of the best Medtronics salesman in Las Vegas. He was with his girlfriend and they were buying things, as they were moving in together. He purchased his Costco card when he first arrived at the store as he was not a member.

The Summerlin Costco is a store that had no signs against carrying a gun in the store open, concealed or otherwise.

A security person for the store questioned him about his gun, but did not ask him to leave, after having seen it from Erik bending over. Erik may have gotten all second amendment on the security person, who then went back and called the police saying that they had a "green beret" in their store with a gun acting strangely and tearing up merchandise.

The police responded with 13 units, a police helicopter and 2 ambulances.

Erik and his girlfriend continued to shop not realizing that their world was about to end.

The police asked the Costco to announce that there was a bomb scare at the building and everyone needed to leave.

Everyone including Erik and his girlfriend peaceably filed out of the building as ordered. The security person pointed out Erik to the police who walked out behind him.

Once outside among a crowd of shoppers that numbered about forty. A policeman from behind him and with out any other warning drew his gun and tapped him on his shoulder and shouted "Freeze". Two other officers drew their weapons and shouted other commands such as "drop your gun" or "hands in the air" At this point Erik was surrounded by police all with their guns pointed at him. Erik had his blackberry in his hand. At this point the police said that Erik drew his gun on them and fearing for their lives, they all shot at Erik. From the tapping on the shoulder to the last bullet being fired was about three seconds.

Had Erik not been there or their aim had been bad, they would have shot each other or many of the people who saw the incident.

Seven bullets were fired, all striking and mortally wounding Erik. Five of the bullets were fired while Erik was on the ground.

Witnesses saw the gun or saw a blackberry depending on who you talked to. One physician wanted to aid Erik as he was dieing, but did not, as he was afraid of the police he had just seen kill a man for what he saw was no reason.

Erik was handcuffed and rolled over. No treatment was given until he was in the ambulance. Once in the ambulance, an attendant discovered that he was carrying a gun and it was reported over the radio. The ambulance attendant may have given powerful drugs to Erik to try and revive him (I'm still a little fuzzy on this) while he was in their care. Erik took prescription pain medication for a injury, Erik was 38 and was described as "buff"

Erik's girlfriend was taken to an office inside the store and held there for many hours. Erik or his girlfriend were never charged with any crime.

During this time, the police searched Erik's apartment with out a warrant, under the reason that they needed to secure it, since he was dead. (it was locked already) The police took several items from the apartment. Erik had several other guns in his apartment.

It was later reported that Erik was carrying two guns. One which was found at the scene (the one he drew on the officers) and one which was discovered in the ambulance.

Erik died and it was initially reported that the Las Vegas police had successfully stopped a "crazed" gunman from killing everyone at the Summerlin Costco.

Later as Erik's family got into town, the story changes as the word got out that Erik was a West Point graduate, was licensed to carry a gun and was not one to cause trouble. Everyone wanted to see the video images that were available from the store's cameras and from the police. In an unusual move, that information was withheld by the police pending the inquest.

Rather than the video recorders being immediately taken into custody, they remained in Costco's possession for a day or so. Then rather than sending the recorders to the FBI's computer forensics laboratory for analysis, there were passed on to a private firm in Burbank, California, a place that the police department's private security camera company knew about.

The inquest was finally held and in a process where the family has no input or cannot present any evidence. The District Attorney effectively presented a drug crazed individual, who had beaten his ex wife, drew on three officers who already had guns pointed at him and was killed. They showed evidence he was illegally carrying one of his two guns, as you must be licensed for each gun you carry and one of the guns, he was not licensed to carry.

The jury found that it was a justifiable shooting by the police, just as juries have done in the last 200 other police shootings in Las Vegas dating all the way back to the 1970's.

The video recorded evidence? There was none. The police had no video and the Costco video wasn't working that day, as it was out of order.

Since then the family has filed lawsuits against Costco and the City and County of Las Vegas. Those are working their way through the courts. Citizens were outraged enough to force small changes in the inquest system. Changes that the police union has vowed not to cooperate with. The County has recently been released from the suit by a judge.

A small number of people began showing support Erik Scott ribbons on their cars. They seemed to come under the watchful eye of the police, as Erik's girlfriend was ticketed at least twice in one week.

One of the police officers involved in the shooting was arrested for selling a gun to a felon, the other two received national police officer awards.

Erik Scott's family scattered his ashes from a sail boat near Dana Point California, July 10, 2011 on the anniversary of his murder.

The Las Vegas police have come under a more watchful eye of the press in Las Vegas, who are now less likely as before, to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Recently a videographer was beaten by a police officer for videotaping an arrest from his front yard, that video tape did not disappear, and it looks as if that officer will be fired. He had previously killed two people in his five years on the force. One was a mentally ill 15 year old boy whose mom called police, as he wouldn't take his medicine. The inquest process also found those shootings justified. That mom is also now sueing the Las Vegas police along with the videographer.

I will see if I can find a link to that story that does not involve the Las Vegas Journal.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/07/ ... 5853.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Keith B]

Do not post links from Las Vegas papers or copied stories from them due to alleged copyright infringement claims by them against various websites and forums.

[Blindref757]

I went and checked this out on my own...I'm not anti-cop, but this is another Bad Cop! You can put him right in there with the fat girl from Houston PD that punched a guy in cuffs.

He looks to be pretty young and already has two notches on his belt for BG kills. It appears that this time, the camera didn't lie! The victim is suing for $500K and I hope he gets every penny of it!

[TXlaw1]

As a sort of general Las Vegas update, a year has passed since Erik Scott was shot by police outside the high end Summerlin Costco store.

Thank you so much for this sad update. It confirms my decision from about a year ago that I will NEVER go to Las Vegas and probably never enter Nevada. When their ads say "What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas" I think they really mean "What happens with the Las Vegas cops will be covered up by the Las Vegas system." Seems to me it is a dark hole that does not see the light of day or truth. Not my kind of place to visit.