Officers corroborate colleagues’ account of shooting that killed protester

Additional police officers gave testimony Thursday that corroborated their colleagues’ account of the events surrounding the fatal shooting of an armed Black Lives Matter protester.

Jorge Gomez, 25, was killed by police in 2020 on the third night of protests over the murder of George Floyd. The shooting occurred near the federal courthouse in downtown Las Vegas.

Clark County prosecutors decided not to prosecute the four officers who fired on him: Ryan Fryman, Dan Emerton, Andrew Locher and Vernon Ferguson. But Gomez’s family filed a civil lawsuit against them and the Metropolitan Police Department.

That suit led to the pending federal civil trial.

Ferguson and Locher testified Wednesday that Gomez pointed a rifle at them.

Lawyers for Gomez’s family have said in court documents that “he never pointed a gun at anyone.”

Fryman and Emerton took the stand Thursday.

Emerton testified that he saw Gomez running with someone chasing him.

A detective had fired a beanbag shotgun at Gomez before the shooting, which plaintiffs’ attorney Dale Galipo said caused Gomez to run.

Emerton said Gomez raised a rifle, making him concerned for the safety of others in his unit and the area.

“The weapon turns in my direction and now I see the muzzle coming in my direction,” he told jurors.

Emerton said he believed Gomez was going to try to kill him. He fired four rounds within two seconds, he testified.

Without Gomez pointing the rifle at him, Emerton said he did not think it would be appropriate to shoot.

The officer did not hear anyone warn shots could be fired. There was no time, he said.

In an incident just before the shooting of Gomez, an officer had been shot outside of Circus Circus.

What happened at the casino was not in Emerton’s mind when he fired shots. “It ran through my mind this could be a simultaneous attack,” he said. “This could be an ambush situation.”

That there might be an ambush did not influence his decision to fire, Emerton said.

Fryman, a sergeant at the time of the shooting, said he did not know the initial shots he heard came from a less-lethal shotgun. He said he thought Gomez was firing his weapon at police.

He recalled hearing yelling, but could not make out specific verbal commands from officers before the shooting, he said.

“We’re talking about less than two seconds for the whole thing,” he told the jury.

Like Emerton, he said it would be inappropriate to shoot if Gomez did not point a weapon at him.

“I saw the gun coming up,” Fryman said.

He added: “I didn’t want to die.”

Nicholas Sylvia, another Metro officer present at the scene who did not fire shots, testified that he saw Gomez running, but did not witness him pointing his rifle at anyone.

But Sylvia said he lost sight of Gomez after he passed the courthouse steps. His view of what Gomez did before the lethal shots was obstructed by a vehicle, he said.

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.