Review of fatal Las Vegas police shooting in April finds officers were justified
The Clark County District Attorney’s Office has found that two Las Vegas officers were justified in a shooting that resulted in the April death of Efren Trujillo-Soriano.
Trujillo-Soriano, 22, was shot and killed by Metro police Officers Lukas Ferris and Bryan Loy on April 11 in front of Siegel Suites at 2000 S. Paradise Road as he ran toward them firing a gun.
The district attorney’s office laid out its case Tuesday during a public review of the incident. The hearings are meant to provide the public with the evidence that led to the decision in an investigation and enable an ombudsman to ask questions of investigators on its behalf.
Detective Craig Jex, from the Metropolitan Police Department’s force investigation team, said the shooting occurred after an aggressive altercation at St. Louis Square between Trujillo-Soriano and another man. Shortly after the confrontation, which was caught on tape, Trujillo-Soriano shot the man outside a Carl’s Jr. restaurant across from the Stratosphere at 2001 Las Vegas Blvd. South.
A 911 caller who was on the 25th floor of the Stratosphere, said that a man, later identified as Trujillo-Soriano, “took off running” into the Siegel Suites, but returned to the scene and took pictures on his cellphone while standing next to a police vehicle. At the hearing, Jex said police recovered a cellphone containing photos from the scene, corroborating the caller’s account.
According to Jex, Ferris, 25, and Loy, 33, arrived on the southeast corner of Siegel Suites and were about to set up a perimeter to try and locate the suspect. Loy said he saw Trujillo-Soriano running toward him, aiming a firearm at both him and Ferris, and firing two rounds. Both officers returned fire until Trujillo-Soriano fell to the ground. Loy fired 18 rounds and Ferris fired 16.
During the review, ombudsman Terry Jackson questioned Jex about the lack of police body camera video of the shooting. Jex responded that Loy did not have a body camera at the time and that while Ferris did, he did not activate it until after the shooting. He said that officers called to a scene to set up a perimeter are not required to turn their body cameras on.
Among Trujillo-Soriano’s belongings, investigators found a prescription for Naltrexone — medication used to combat alcohol abuse and opioid addition. An autopsy found that Trujillo-Soriano’s blood alcohol content was .214 — nearly triple the .08 threshold for a vehicular DUI charge — at the time of his death.
According to Jex, Trujillo-Soriano was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army in 2014, and screened negatively for post traumatic stress disorder; however, his family said he struggled with anxiety and depression.
Contact Natalie Bruzda at nbruzda@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3897. Follow @NatalieBruzda on Twitter.