Man killed by Las Vegas SWAT had hands up, moved toward hostage
A man suspected of killing his ex-wife’s boyfriend had his hands up when he moved toward a hostage he had taken before being shot and killed by a SWAT officer, according to testimony at a Monday review hearing.
Jose Cabrera-Hernandez, 49, had killed his ex-wife’s boyfriend in early November 2022 and kidnapped her brother before Metropolitan Police Department SWAT officer Dewane Ferrin, 49, killed him and officers rescued the hostage.
On Monday morning, Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Hamner and attorney Michael Troiano questioned Jason Leavitt, a detective with the department’s force investigation team, during a fact-finding review hearing at the Clark County Government Center.
A fact-finding hearing is held when the DA’s office has preliminarily determined that no officers will be charged in connection with a police shooting.
Troiano was appointed by the county to serve as an ombudsman representing the public and members of Cabrera-Hernandez’s family, though none were present at Monday’s hearing.
Las Vegas police alleged that Cabrera-Hernandez shot and killed 48-year-old Jano Gonzalez Blanco in the 200 block of Kipling Street, at Cabrera-Hernandez’s ex-wife’s home, around 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 4, 2022. Cabrera-Hernandez then took his ex-wife’s brother hostage and fled the scene.
Leavitt said Cabrera-Hernandez had been barred from the home through a temporary protective order. Police used video surveillance to determine that Cabrera-Hernandez and his hostage were in a white Nissan Armada. While detectives interviewed the ex-wife, Cabrera-Hernandez called her multiple times.
Officers tracked the vehicle until it pulled into a business complex parking lot on Spring Mountain Road. SWAT vehicles blocked in the Nissan as Cabrera-Hernandez attempted to drive away. Several armed officers surrounded the vehicle and Ferrin fired one shot into the Nissan, killing Cabrera-Hernandez.
The hostage and officers were not injured.
The hostage later told officers that Cabrera-Hernandez had planned to release him in exchange for Cabrera-Hernandez’s passport and for his ex-wife to go with him to Mexico. The hostage also said Cabrera-Hernandez talked about killing the real estate agent for his ex-wife’s home and the couple that introduced Blanco to his ex-wife, according to Leavitt.
“Hernandez told him that he had to kill victim, which was the decedent back at the residence, because he was in the way of him being able to get back together with his ex-wife,” Leavitt said.
Police found two handguns in the driver’s side door panel and zip ties in the trunk.
Video from a police helicopter and officers’ body-worn cameras were played during the hearing. Ferrin’s body camera video was cut off prior to the shooting during a vehicle collision caused by SWAT vehicles boxing in the Nissan.
Ferrin has been employed by Las Vegas police since 2000.
In 2015, Ferrin was one of four SWAT officers who fatally shot a 50-year-old woman who fired at officers from a stolen car near Desert Inn Road and Jones Boulevard.
Ferrin declined a voluntary interview with the force investigation team but participated in a walk-through of the November 2022 shooting scene alongside his attorney and police union president Steve Grammas.
“Officer Ferrin did not give me a voluntary statement so Officer Ferrin never explained to me exactly what was happening or why he fired,” Leavitt said.
Another officer questioned about the shooting said that he believed Cabrera-Hernandez tried to grab the hostage.
Leavitt described body camera video from another officer in the moments after the shooting that captured Ferrin re-enacting how Cabrera-Hernandez held his hands up and moved toward the hostage and Ferrin saying, “I thought he was (expletive) attacking the dude and I shot.”
A final report with a decision from the district attorney’s office will be posted online in the coming weeks.
Contact David Wilson at dwilson@reviewjournal.com.