Reno student shot by cop was defending himself after being bullied, beaten, attorney says

RENO - An emotionally distressed 14-year-old armed with knives had been bullied and beaten and was trying to escape from a crowd of classmates acting like “spectators in the Roman coliseum” when he was shot by a school police officer this week, a family attorney said Friday.

The Reno teen remained in critical condition after being shot in the chest on Wednesday, but is stable and showing signs of improvement, David Houston, a prominent Reno attorney, told the Associated Press.

Houston, who was hired by the boy’s father to defend him against any potential criminal charges, said he is still reviewing videos of the shooting posted on social media, but maintained that he has seen nothing to suggest that the other students felt threatened by the knife-wielding teen. Many appeared shocked when the officer opened fire in a high school courtyard, he noted.

“Those kids were alerted there was going to be a beat-down at a specific time and a specific location. They had amassed with their cellphones for the purpose of filming it,” Houston told the AP.

He added: “Half the student body is out there cheering them on. He’d been punched in the face and was running around screaming, ‘Get away from me!’ He was trying to extricate himself from a situation that had become like spectators in the Roman coliseum.”

Video of the shooting spread rapidly via social media in the wake of the incident, causing some viewers to question the police officer’s use of potentially lethal force against the student at Reno’s Hug High School.

The shooting also prompted school police in Clark County and elsewhere to review practices and procedures, said Capt. Ken Young, of the Clark County School District police department.

“Everybody in the country starts to review what their tactics are” after such an incident, he said.

‘A GAME CHANGER’

While video of an incident like the one in Reno can trigger outrage, it’s hard for the public to understand the split-second decision officers have to make in such situations, said Mo Canady, a retired police officer of 25 years who now serves as the executive director for the National Association of School Resource Officers.

“The delay you cause in even thinking about trying to disarm that person could cost someone their life,” said Canady, whose organization provides training to school-based law enforcement officers. “You have to ask, ‘Do I reasonably believe that they could at any minute begin killing people?’ That’s a game changer.”

Canady declined to comment whether he thought the school officer was justified in shooting the student because there’s an active investigation.

“With these videos, we never have the complete context of what is going on,” Canady said, referencing the social media videos taken and posted by students at the school.

Multiple videos posted online show a male teenager wearing a blue shirt and white pants pacing and waving a large kitchen knife in the direction of a circle of onlookers in an outdoor quad while holding a second knife in his other hand. One video captured the sound of a single gunshot and several students screaming before the camera shows the boy writhing in pain on the ground.

Houston, the attorney for the family, said the reaction of the onlookers indicates that the other students didn’t feel threatened by the 14-year-old, who has not been identified by authorities because of his age.

“The video tells the story,” he told the AP. “No one anticipated the officer is going to shoot the kid.

“There was no attempt to calm the situation. There was not this genuine sense of panic or alarm by the students watching until the officer attempted to execute the 14-year-old who was screaming, ‘Get away from me.’”

Houston made similar comments Friday in interviews with network news shows, drawing a response late in the day from the Washoe County School District chief general counsel Neil Rombardo, who said in a statement that it is inappropriate to litigate such matters in the media.

“It is disappointing to think that such a tragic event can be sensationalized by one side and by the media in order to spread false truths, innuendos, and disparage the efforts of a law enforcement officer protecting children,” Rombardo said.

Superintendent Traci Davis also defended her earlier statements praising the police response as “flawless.”

SUPERINTENDENT STANDS FAST

“With regard to the allegation that the district praised itself before the investigation is complete, it is my personal belief … that the event could have been much worse. What I do know is that in this very volatile situation, there have been no fatalities at this time. As I stated in my comments, the district will wait for the investigation, but I do personally believe the officer’s judgment saved other students from deadly force,” she said in the statement.

After the shooting, the officer gave the student medical aid until emergency assistance arrived. The campus officer has been placed on paid administrative leave while Reno police lead an investigation into the officer-involved shooting.

“Any charging considerations are a part of that process,” Washoe County District Attorney spokeswoman Michelle Bays told the AP Friday, declining further comment until the investigation is complete.

Young, the Clark County School District police official, declined to say whether he found the officer’s use of force justified.

“I’m not going to question it,” he said, adding that his department is very familiar with the Washoe County School District police, which he described as a sister agency.

No formal reminders or updates have gone out to CCSD police officers as a result of the Reno incident, Young said, but officer training on the use of force starts in the academy and continues throughout their careers.

In training, instructors try to cover a variety of possibilities, including situations with single or multiple assailants, armed and unarmed, but there’s no way to plan for everything, he said.

In Clark County, school police officers carry handcuffs, a baton, pepper spray, a Taser and a firearm when on duty, Young said. High schools in the county have dedicated officers while patrol officers visit middle and elementary schools in their assigned zones.

Review-Journal reporters Meghin Delaney, Sandra Chereb and Sean Whaley and the Associated Press contributed to this report.