Jury awards $6.5M in trial over Las Vegas police killing of armed protester

A federal jury awarded $6.5 million Monday to the parents and estate of an armed protester killed by Las Vegas police in 2020, ruling against some officers and in favor of others.

The civil jury found Metropolitan Police Department officer Ryan Fryman liable for excessive force and battery claims in the death of Black Lives Matter protester Jorge Gomez, 25, who was killed on the third night of protests over the murder of George Floyd.

Fryman, one of four Metro officers who shot at Gomez, was found liable for $5 million in damages. He was a sergeant at the time of the shooting.

The jury also found Metro Detective John Squeo liable for violating Gomez’s First Amendment rights. Squeo, who fired a beanbag shotgun at Gomez before the fatal shooting but did not fire a fatal shot, was found liable for $1.5 million in damages.

The jury voted in favor of three other officers who fired shots: Dan Emerton, Andrew Locher and Vernon Ferguson. Jurors also elected not to award punitive damages and voted in Squeo’s favor on battery and excessive force claims.

Defense attorneys declined to comment after the verdict, and Metro did not respond to a request for comment.

Gomez’s mother, Jeanne Llera, cried after U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware read the verdict. She and Jorge Gomez, the father of the man killed, were plaintiffs in the suit that led to the two-week trial.

“I think his dad and I have really mixed emotions right now,” said Llera, who wore a necklace containing her son’s ashes, a locket with a picture of him and his Batman watch.

‘A long battle’

Llera said she was grateful for the trial and the portions of the verdict against officers but saw the outcome as “just a steppingstone.”

“We’re not going to stop until we see these officers behind bars,” she said.

The Clark County district attorney’s office previously decided not to prosecute the four Metro officers who fired rounds.

Llera criticized District Attorney Steve Wolfson for what she viewed as a failure to hold police accountable.

Wolfson did not respond to a request for comment.

“This has been a long battle,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Dale Galipo, adding that the Gomez family and friends “fought to bring this lawsuit, fought to bring this case to trial. They fought to get some kind of accountability against these officers.”

Galipo said Metro would be liable for the total amount of damages. The officers are not expected to pay the damages themselves, he said.

He thinks some of the money may come from the department directly and some from insurance. He also anticipates the jury award against Fryman on the battery claim — $2.5 million — may be reduced under state law.

The shooting

A key issue at trial was whether Gomez had pointed a rifle at police before he was shot. Officers who fired the shots testified that he had, but attorneys for Gomez’s family denied the claim.

Gomez was shot near the federal courthouse in downtown Las Vegas, where the trial was held.

The fatal shooting occurred shortly after an officer was shot outside Circus Circus.

Galipo argued that officers were “hyped up and confused.”

They were preparing to respond to Circus Circus when they heard what sounded like gunshots, he said, and incorrectly assumed Gomez was shooting at officers and civilians from the courthouse steps.

Squeo had fired a beanbag shotgun at Gomez.

Galipo asserted Squeo shot the beanbag rounds as retaliation for Gomez exercising his First Amendment rights.

Attorney Dan McNutt, who represented Squeo, argued that Gomez was not actively protesting but walking to his car.

McNutt also said Gomez was about to attack another officer. Galipo called that claim an “incredible story.”

The Las Vegas Review-Journal previously reported that Squeo resigned from Metro after facing a disorderly conduct case.

Galipo said after the trial that he did not know why Gomez was armed at the time. Gomez may have wanted to exercise his Second Amendment rights and thought he “looked cool,” the family’s lawyer said.

The attorney does not think he intended to harm anyone.

Defense lawyer Craig Anderson pointed out Gomez’s rifle and body armor during his closing argument.

“Circumstantial evidence tells you his intention was to be provocative, to create problems and to instigate confrontation,” he argued.

Galipo said Gomez wore body armor because he had previously seen protesters get struck by pepper balls.

Judge believed jury deadlocked

It’s unclear why the jury chose to single out Fryman of the four officers who fired lethal shots at Gomez, but Galipo had some ideas.

“I think with respect to Sgt. Fryman, it may have been that some of the jurors wanted to hold all of the officers responsible and some of them didn’t want to hold any of the officers responsible, and they somehow agreed eventually on holding Sgt. Fryman (responsible),” he said.

The lawyer also said Fryman was the supervisor of the officers at the scene; fired seven shots, the most of all the officers; and was “somewhat evasive” during his testimony.

Jury deliberations began Wednesday afternoon, and there were indications last week that the jury might not be able to reach a verdict.

On Thursday, jurors asked Boulware whether their verdict needed to be unanimous or could be a majority vote. He instructed them that the verdict had to be unanimous.

The jury asked in a later note about the next steps if they could not reach a decision.

“I understand that to mean that they’re deadlocked,” the judge said to attorneys.

Jurors were given Friday off because of child care concerns on the Nevada Day holiday, and they resumed deliberations Monday morning. Just before 2 p.m. Monday, they sent the judge a note indicating that they had reached their verdict.

Llera previously said funds awarded in the lawsuit would go to a nonprofit in honor of her son and would support animal rights and homeless outreach, causes that mattered to him.

“I said from day one, we didn’t care about the money,” Llera said Monday. “We want to make sure the community’s taken care of, so that money will hopefully, eventually go into a nonprofit.”

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