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Sun, 13 Apr 2025 22:32:06 -0700
zerosugar from private IP, post #18753321
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Autistic teen shot by Idaho police dies after being removed from life support
This is a hard story to read. Simply heartbreaking and the saddest thing is that
this tragedy will never get the national and even international attention that
other police shootings have received. I just cannot imagine how the family feel.
No words.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/12/us/autistic-teen-idaho-police-shooting-dies/index.html
Boise, Idaho
AP
—
An autistic, nonverbal teenage boy who was shot repeatedly by Idaho police from
the other side of a chain-link fence while he was holding a knife died Saturday
after being removed from life support, his family said.
Victor Perez, 17, who also had cerebral palsy, had been in a coma since the
April 5 shooting, and tests Friday showed that he had no brain activity, his
aunt, Ana Vazquez, told The Associated Press. He had undergone several
surgeries, with doctors removing nine bullets and amputating his leg.
Police in the southwest Idaho city of Pocatello responded to a 911 call
reporting that an apparently intoxicated man with a knife was chasing someone in
a yard. It turned out to be Perez, who was not intoxicated but walked with a
staggered gait due to his disabilities, Vazquez said. His family members had
been trying to get the large kitchen knife away from him.
Video taken by a neighbor showed that Perez was lying in the yard after falling
over when four officers arrived and rushed to the fence at the edge of the yard.
They immediately ordered Perez to drop the knife, but instead he stood and began
stumbling toward them.
Officers opened fire within about 12 seconds of getting out of their patrol cars
and made no apparent effort to de-escalate the situation.
The shooting outraged Perez’s family and Pocatello residents, and a vigil had
been planned for Saturday morning outside the Pocatello hospital where he was
treated.
“Everybody was trying to tell the police, no, no,” Vazquez said. “Those
four officers didn’t care. They didn’t ask what was happening, what was the
situation.”
“How’s he going to jump the fence when he can barely walk?” she said.
The officers, whose names have not been released, were placed on administrative
leave.
Decisions about whether charges should be filed against them will be made after
an independent investigation by the Eastern Idaho Critical Incident Team,
Bannock County Prosecutor Ian Johnson told the AP via email.
“When that investigation is complete a report will be submitted for review,”
he said. “In a continued effort to ensure independent and objective
consideration, said report will be reviewed by an agency outside of Bannock
County.”
Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad said in a statement Friday, after the family
announced that Perez had no brain activity, that officials’ thoughts and
prayers were with them.
“We recognize the pain and grief this incident has caused in our community,”
Blad said.
Blad said Thursday that the city was “addressing this matter with the
seriousness and thoroughness it deserves and with the appropriate respect for
the gravity of the situation.”
“The criminal, external, and internal investigations regarding the
officer-involved shooting are underway, which is why we cannot answer questions
out of concern of interfering with or compromising the investigation,” he
said.
#News
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