An autistic teenager with cerebral palsy who was gunned down by Idaho police has succumbed to his injuries, his family revealed.
Victor Perez, a 17-year-old boy described by his family as nonverbal, autistic and intellectually disabled, had been in a coma since the April 5 shooting.
Doctors removed nine bullets from Perez’s body and amputated his left leg. He was on a ventilator in ‘critical condition’ before he died, Idaho News 6 reported.
His tests Friday showed that he had no brain activity, and he passed away after being taken off life support on Saturday, his aunt, Ana Vazquez, told The Associated Press.
‘Those police broke our family. There is no way to explain the pain that we are feeling right now. It’s like our hearts are kind of empty – it’s not full anymore,’ Vazquez said.
Police in the southeast 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. 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.
Victor Perez (pictured), a 17-year-old boy described by his family as nonverbal, autistic and intellectually disabled has died after being gunned down by police
Disturbing footage captured the 12 second altercation which police made no apparent effort to de-escalate the situation
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.
In the footage, Perez was seen lying on the ground, barely moving, as four officers rushed toward the chain-link fence surrounding the home – three pulling out handguns and another pointing what appeared to be a shotgun.
When officers demanded Perez drop the weapon, the teen instead stood up and began stepping toward them with the knife still in his grasp.
‘He saw everybody pointing guns at him, so he stood up and pointed the knife towards the officers,’ neighbor Brad Andres told East Idaho News. ‘After the officers saw this, they all unloaded.’
Officers began repeatedly firing at Perez, with audio from the disturbing footage capturing nine continuous gunshots.
‘They never once asked, “What is the situation, how can we help?”‘ Andres said. ‘They ran up with their guns drawn, they triggered a mentally disabled person to react and when he reacted… they shot him.’
Andres explained that the police ‘appeared to be like a death squad or firing squad,’ rather than officers trying to de-escalate a situation.
Doctors removed nine bullets from Perez’s body and amputated his left leg. He was on a ventilator in ‘critical condition’ before he died
His tests Friday showed that he had no brain activity, and he passed away after being taken off life support on Saturday
‘You can see that the kid, after he was shot, wounded and down on the ground in pain, suffering from the shots, they continued to shoot at him,’ Andres told East Idaho News.
After life-saving measures were taken at the scene, Perez was taken to Portneuf Medical Center where he passed away on Saturday.
Videos of the shooting has since circulated around social media, enraging the boy’s family, neighbors and the internet as to why officers opened fire within about 12 seconds of exiting their cars – all while making no apparent effort to de-escalate the situation or use less lethal weapons.
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.
‘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.’
Perez loved watching professional wrestling, eating fries and taking walks while holding his mother’s hand, Vasquez said.
He would always notice when Vasquez painted her nails his favorite color blue, or when she wore a new weave, showing his admiration by touching her hair, she said.
‘I’m going to miss him when he used to get in his weird moods, and I used to put him to bed,’ she said.
‘He wouldn’t want to sleep and would wake up again, and I would have to walk him back to the bed. I would promise him, “Hey, I´ll be back tomorrow but you need to lay down and sleep.”‘
