Jury awards $540K after 2013 attack at North Las Vegas school

A Las Vegas jury has awarded a total of $540,000 to three former Canyon Springs High School students who were attacked during a 2013 event.

In a verdict reached late Monday, jurors found the Clark County School District and the school’s former principal, Ronnie Guerzon, negligent for failing to provide security during a Senior Sunrise Breakfast in August 2013, according to court documents.

A lawyer for the victims — Bijo’n Perry, Gabriel Ureno and Gerad Davis — said school officials did not verify that those attending the event were students at the North Las Vegas school.

Each of the victims was struck with a firearm during the attack.

“This is about trying to get the school to recognize that they didn’t protect them and that they need to do more to protect students and keep guns off campus,” attorney Adam Ganz said Tuesday. “They got lucky that it wasn’t a mass shooting in this case.”

A school district spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.

The verdict comes as the district grapples with a rising tide of school violence that has increased as the district has simultaneously worked to reduce suspensions and expulsions.

More recently, school shootings across the country have prompted government and education officials to tackle the issue of safety on campus. Gov. Brian Sandoval created a 25-member school safety committee that will submit recommendations to him in August.

Ureno, now 22, and Davis, now 21, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in a conference call Tuesday that they believe the attack could have been prevented by school officials if they had simply checked student identification.

“It should be an eye-opener not only for the school district but for parents as well, to be a little more aware of what’s going on,” said Ureno, who still suffers from regular headaches as a result of being struck in the left temple with a pistol. “But mainly the school district, they really dropped the ball on this one.”

Davis, who still has scars and a chipped tooth, called the verdict “justice” and said students should expect safety in schools.

Perry could not be reached Tuesday.

Jurors found no negligence on Ureno’s part but ruled that Perry was 10 percent negligent, while Davis was 20 percent negligent. Ganz said the district’s lawyers had argued that the teens shared some responsibility for informing the principal and school administrators that the attackers did not belong on school grounds.

The award could be reduced because of what’s known as a government immunity cap, which limits to $100,000 the amount of the school district’s liability. Ganz said he planned to argue that the district should pay $100,000, while Guerzon should be responsible for the rest.

“Schools need to re-evaluate their security protocols and make sure they’re doing everything they can to keep guns off school grounds,” Ganz said. “Everybody agrees that guns should be kept off school campus. Do something about it.”

At least three teens were indicted a month after the attack and since have been convicted, according to court records.

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Amelia Pak-Harvey contributed to this report.