NLV cop who fatally shot homeless man has resigned

A North Las Vegas police officer who shot a homeless man in the head three times in March 2014 resigned in January.

David Robinson, 38, was shot and killed March 10 by then-officer Raymond Lopez.

Lopez quit Jan. 15, department spokesman Officer Aaron Patty said Monday, following testimony during a fact-finding review of the fatal shooting. North Las Vegas declined to provide details on his employment history, citing privacy rules.

Robinson was walking near the intersection of East Tonopah Avenue near Las Vegas Boulevard when Lopez stopped him at 1:11 a.m., North Las Vegas homicide detective Ben Owens said during the hearing.

One minute and nine seconds later, Lopez radioed that shots had been fired. Robinson was dead.

Robinson’s family filed a federal lawsuit against Lopez, the North Las Vegas Police Department and then-Police Chief Joseph Chronister in November. The lawsuit was put on hold until the fact-finding review was held, court documents show, but will now move forward.

A preliminary Clark County district attorney’s investigation determined no charges would be filed against Lopez. The office will decide in the coming days whether the shooting was considered justified.

But Robinson’s family members have come to their own conclusions.

“This was a homicide. We believe former-officer Lopez murdered this man,” the family’s attorney, Anthony Ashby, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal after the hearing.

Patty said the department stands by the district attorney’s decision not to charge Lopez.

Just before the deadly shots were fired, Owens said, Lopez radioed that he was going to investigate a black man coming out of an abandoned house.

In an interview with detectives five days after the shooting, Lopez told detectives he approached Robinson with his flashlight in hand, Owens said. But Lopez drew his pistol because Robinson was not following his commands and so that his “other hand could be free.” The pistol has an attached flashlight.

Lopez pushed Robinson up against the house with that free hand, Owens said, then backed up a few feet.

He then saw “the glint of a blade” and fired four shots. Three bullets hit Robinson in the head and a fourth hit his shoulder, Owens said. Officers found a fixed-blade knife in Robinson’s back pocket.

There were no eye witnesses to the shooting besides Lopez himself, Owens said.

The district attorney’s office sent the case to the Force Science Institute, a Minnesota-based company that studies and evaluates use of force incidents, to get an opinion on the shooting.

After reviewing the case, the institute said investigators asked Lopez “incomplete questions.” The company recommended that police interview Lopez again.

Lopez refused to be interviewed again, Owens said. He later resigned.

It’s unclear where Lopez is now. He did not attend the hearing and could not be reached for comment Monday.

Ashby said Lopez’s actions were “completely contrary to any well-trained officer’s actions.”

Including initially stopping Robinson.

“He was doing nothing wrong,” Ashby said. “This man was walking down the street late at night. The fact is that he was pulled over and stopped because he was African-American.”

Ashby said Lopez should have waited for his backup to arrive. At least one other officer was en route from about two miles away.

“Unfortunately, (Lopez) found it necessary to put three bullets in this man’s head,” Ashby said.

Contact reporter Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638. Find him on Twitter: @ColtonLochhead.